The rising public sector pay premium in the New Zealand labour market

This note reports propensity score matching estimates of the public sector pay premium in New Zealand for each year from 2003 until 2007. Comparing with observably similar private sector workers shows that public sector workers have received a pay premium that has grown in each year, from almost zero in 2003 to 22 percent in 2007. Unless there have been unmeasured changes in the attributes of public sector jobs that give rise to compensating pay differentials, this rising public sector pay premium is most plausibly attributed to an increase in non-competitive rents

Recent shocks and long-term change in the Samoan economy

The strengths exhibited by the Samoan economy during the period of steady growth from 1998 to 2007 have since been tested by considerable volatility in economic activity, declining employment, rapidly rising prices, the global financial crisis, and the September 2009 tsunami. The economy has done reasonably well in the face of these challenges with key economic support in the form of aid, remittances and tourism. Questions are raised about the future viability of these forms of support

The public sector pay premium and compensating differentials in the New Zealand labour market

In this note, propensity score matching (PSM) methods are applied to data from the 2005 International Social Survey Program Work Orientations (ISSP-WO) survey to examine the public sector pay premium in New Zealand. Taking account of a wide range of worker characteristics and attitudes, job attributes, and the effects that jobs have on workers and their family life, there appears to be a pay premium from working in the public sector of 17 to 21 percent

Safety attitudes in New Zealand forestry : a thesis presented to Massey University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology

This study examines the attitudes towards safety, held by workers, contractors, supervisors, and managers employed in the New Zealand forest industry. The study follows the framework offered by Purdham (1984, cited in Cox & Cox, 1991), which divides safety attitudes into safety hardware, safety software, people, and risk. After a review of the literature relating to these object areas, attitudes, and safety, a safety attitude questionnaire that was developed specifically for the study is described. The questionnaire was administered to 465 people working in the forest industry. The results suggested that the structure provided by Purdham, as well as Cox and Cox (1991) is not entirely apparent, however it can be used to evaluate safety attitudes. Attitudes towards safety hardware were very positive although a number of workers were unaware of the benefits of more recently developed personal protective equipment. Attitudes towards safety software were slightly negative. Many workers were unaware of safety policies and the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, and were of the opinion that there was conflict between safety and other job demands. With regards to people, all groups surveyed had very good attitudes towards responsibility, and realised the importance of safety. Attitudes towards risk were reasonable, but knowledge of objective risk was poor. Results also suggested that the safety climate is rather negative, with many workers not believing that management or their work-mates were committed to safety. Management were also of the opinion that workers would not believe they were committed to safety. The survey found no relationship between individual attitudes and accident involvement. Training, education, and experience were also unrelated to accident involvement. Finally, management appear to be making attribution errors with regards to the cause of accidents. The implications of these findings for the forest industry, and safety research are discussed

The public sector pay premium, compensating differentials and unions: propensity score matching evidence from Australia, Canada, Great Britain and the United States

Propensity score matching is used to estimate the size of the public sector pay premium in four countries. Three sets of matching covariates are used; worker characteristics only, then including job attributes and finally adding union membership. When worker characteristics and job attributes are controlled for, the public sector pay premium ranges from 30% in Canada to 19-20% in Australia and Great Britain and only 6% in the United States. Differences in job attributes between private sector and public sector workers make almost no difference to the estimated pay premium. But once differences in union membership across sectors are controlled for, the estimated public sector pay premium is reduced in all countries and disappears in Canada. This finding favors the hypothesis that the pay premium partially reflects rents accruing to public sector workers, obtained most probably with assistance from the actions of their labor unions.Compensating differentials, Propensity score matching, Public sector pay premium, Unions, Wages

Do Lower Expected Wage Benefits Explain Ethnic Age Gaps in Job-Related Training? Evidence from New Zealand

Many studies show that individuals from ethnic minority groups receive low levels of job-related training, raising the question of whether lower expected wage benefits contribute to this lack of training. In this paper, unit record data are used to examine the effect of job-related training on wages in New Zealand. The results suggest that both the receipt of employer-provided training, and the number of training events, have larger effects on wages for minority workers than they do for white workers. There are no differences across ethnic groups in the wage benefits from other types of training.Earnings; Job training; Minorities; Selectivity

System for testing bearings

Disclosed here is a system for testing bearings wherein a pair of spaced bearings provides support for a shaft on which is mounted a bearing to be tested, this bearing being mounted in a bearing holder spaced from and in alignment with the pair of bearings. The bearing holder is provided with an annular collar positioned in an opening in the bearing holder for holding the bearing to be tested. A screw threaded through the bearing holder into engagement with the annular collar can be turned to force the collar radially out of alignment with the pair of bearings to apply a radial load to the bearing

DO LOWER EXPECTED WAGE BENEFITS EXPLAIN ETHNIC GAPS IN JOB- RELATED TRAINING? EVIDENCE FROM NEW ZEALAND

Many studies show that individuals from ethnic minority groups receive low levels of job-related training, raising the question of whether lower expected wage benefits contribute to this lack of training. In this paper, unit record data are used to examine the effect of job- related training on wages in New Zealand. The results suggest that both the receipt of employer-provided training, and the number of training events, have larger effects on wages for minority workers than they do for white workers. There are no differences across ethnic groups in the wage benefits from other types of training.Earnings, Job training, Minorities, Selectivity