Essays in labour economics

[ES] La estructura de la tesis doctoral que aquí se presenta, está compuesta de varias partes, entre las debemos distinguir, el capítulo introductorio, tres ensayos independientes sobre economía laboral acompañados de un breve capítulo final que recoge las principales conclusiones de los ensayos. En el primer trabajo, se investiga la asociación entre el cambio tecnológico, la polarización del empleo y la sobre-cualificación. Se analiza aquí la incidencia de la sobre-cualificación y su cambio, a través de categorías de empleos que han sido previamente agrupados de acuerdo a las habilidades exigidas en su ejecución y las tareas realizadas en cuatro países de Europa; Alemania, España, Suecia y el Reino Unido. También se compara estos países con diferentes patrones de cambio del empleo -principalmente de mejora estructural (aumento de los empleos de alta cualificación) y polarización (aumento de los empleos de baja cualificación y de alta cualificación a costa de los de cualificación intermedia) con la finalidad de establecer la posible existencia de un vínculo entre la polarización del empleo y la sobre-cualificación. Para ello, se utilizan datos de la Encuesta Europea de Población Activa para el período de 1999 a 2007. El análisis principal se realiza a nivel de empleo, donde el empleo se define como una combinación de ocupación e industria. Los principales resultados que se encuentran están relacionados con un patrón de cambio de polarización del empleo donde hay una mayor incidencia del sobre-cualificación, que afecta en mayor medida a los empleos de baja cualificación. Estos resultados se mantienen cuando se utilizan técnicas de regresión con efectos fijos. En el segundo ensayo analizo los patrones de cambio en el empleo y los salarios en la India durante el periodo 1983-2011. La polarización del empleo y su efecto sobre la desigualdad de los ingresos ha sido estudiada en los países avanzados en los últimos años. Sin embargo, los países en desarrollo carecen de este tipo de análisis, ya que el cambio tecnológico ha sido percibido como un fenómeno propio de los países desarrollados. Recientemente el enfoque se ha centrado también en los países en desarrollo, especialmente en economías emergentes como Brasil, México, India y Rusia (Medina y Posso, 2010; Gimpelson y Kapeliushnikov, 2016). Este estudio contribuye a esta literatura mediante el análisis del cambio del empleo a través de las ocupaciones y los patrones simultáneamente al cambio salarial en la India. Utilizando datos de la Organización Nacional de Encuesta de Muestras y utilizando una metodología similar a la usada en el primer capítulo, se encuentra evidencia de polarización en el empleo (crecimiento del empleo en empleos de baja y alta cualificación y reducción en el medio) en la India urbana durante los años noventa y primera década de siglo. Por otra parte, durante la década de los ochenta, hubo una mejora en el empleo. Los patrones de cambio en los salarios son consistentes con los patrones de cambio de empleo. Sin embargo, la reducción del peso de las ocupaciones rutinarias de cualificación intermedia parece ser resultado tanto del cambio tecnológico, como de la automatización de empleos rutinarios en la industria india. La mecanización, junto con el creciente empleo por cuenta propia en el sector informal de la economía india, ha contribuido a generar ese patrón de cambio en forma de U. El capítulo final de la tesis investiga los factores que determinan las transiciones del trabajo femenino en la India. La desconcertante cuestión relacionada con la baja participación de la fuerza de trabajo, junto a un crecimiento económico sustancial, ha llevado a una mayor atención por parte de la literatura relacionada con este campo de estudio. Sin embargo, hasta el momento no se ha estudiado la dinámica del empleo en términos de entrada y salida del trabajo. En este trabajo, utilizando la base de datos de panel representativa a nivel nacional de la Encuesta de Desarrollo Humano de la India y corrigiendo mediante el sesgo de selección, se muestra cómo las mujeres no solo participan en menor medida en la fuerza de trabajo, sino también que su participación está cayendo a un ritmo alarmante. Entre los resultados más interesantes está el hecho de que el aumento de los ingresos de otros miembros del hogar, conduce a una menor entrada y mayores probabilidades de salida para las mujeres. Además, tener un hijo recién nacido tiene un efecto perjudicial en el empleo de las mujeres, reduciendo su probabilidad de entrada en el empleo en 1,7 puntos porcentuales y aumentando su salida en 3,5 puntos porcentuales. Este resultado indica que la provisión de servicios públicos para el cuidado de niños puede ser un instrumento de política laboral relevante en este contexto. Por último, se obtiene que el Esquema Nacional de Garantía del Empleo Rural -National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme-, como programa de trabajo público, tiene un efecto significativo en las probabilidades de transición de la fuerza de trabajo de las mujeres.[EN] This thesis consists of an introduction, three self-contained essays of labour economics and a final chapter with the main conclusion. The first essay studies the association between technological change, employment polarization and over-education. It analyses the incidence of over-education and its change across skill-based and task-based job categories in four countries of Europe – Germany, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It also compares countries with different employment change patterns – mainly upgrading (rise in high-skill jobs) and polarizing (rise in low-skill and high-skill jobs at the expense of middle-skill jobs)– to establish a link between employment polarization and over-education. The analysis shows that countries with polarizing employment patterns have more incidence of over-education, which is particularly prevalent in low-skill jobs. The results remain unchanged in a job fixed effects regression. The second essay investigates if job polarization has occurred in the labour market of India for a period spanning almost three decades, 1984 to 2012. It also analyses the implications of job polarization for increasing wage inequality in India. Using data from the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), I find evidence of job polarization (employment growth in low- and high-skill jobs, and reduction in the middle) in urban India during the 1990s and the 2000s. However, the reduction in middle-skill jobs does not seem to be the consequence of only technological change and automation of routine jobs. Mechanisation along with the growing self-employment in India’s informal sector has contributed to the U-shaped pattern of employment change. Wage dynamics are consistent with the employment change during this period. The final essay of the thesis explores the factors determining employment transitions of women in India. Using a nationally representative panel data set and correcting for selection bias due to initial employment and panel attrition, I show that women are not only participating less in the labour force, they are also dropping out of employment at an alarming rate. I find that an increase in income of other members of the household leads to lower entry and higher exit probabilities of women. Moreover, having a newborn child has a detrimental effect on women’s employment, indicating that provision of childcare facilities can be an important policy instrument in this context. I also find that the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, a large public workfare program, has a significant effect on women’s labour force transition probabilities

Covid-19 and (mis)understanding public attitudes to social security : re-setting debate

The Covid-19 pandemic has seen emerging debate about a possible shift in ‘anti-welfare commonsense’ i.e. the orthodoxy previously described in this journal as solidifying negative public attitudes towards ‘welfare’. While a shift in attitudes might be ascribed to the circumstances of the crisis it would still be remarkable for such a strongly established orthodoxy to have changed quite so rapidly. It is appropriate, therefore, to reflect on whether the ‘anti-welfare’ orthodoxy was in fact as unequivocal as claimed? To address this question, challenges to the established orthodoxy that were emerging pre-pandemic are examined along with the most recently available survey data. This leads to discussion of broader issues relating to understanding attitudes: methodology; ‘messiness’ and ambivalence of attitudes; attitudes and constructions of deservingness; and following or leading opinion. It is argued that the ‘anti-welfare’ orthodoxy has always been far more equivocal than claimed, with consequent implications for anti-poverty action and re-setting debate

Educational mismatch in Europe at the turn of the century : measurement, intensity and evolution

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present the stylised facts of over-education among European graduates over time (1998–2013), paying special attention to the measurement issues. Design/methodology/approach The authors use two different sources, the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies 2012, and the European Union Labour Force Survey 1998–2013, with two different aims. The authors employ the first one to make a detailed analysis of the different forms of measuring over-education and its implications in terms of the result obtained. The analysis of the second one responds to studying the evolution and characteristics of over-education in Europe. Findings In the first place, the paper provides evidence of the high level of sensitivity of the level of measured over-education to the type of methodology used. Such difference is even higher when the authors focus on skills vs educational mismatch. The work also shows how with all their shortcomings, the measures of over-education used in the analysis point to the existence of convergence in over-education levels among the European countries of the sample (only interrupted by the crisis), in a context of reduction of over-education rates in many countries. Practical implications Researchers should be particularly careful when estimating over-education, because of the strong implications in terms of the so different results obtained when choosing between competing methods. Originality/value The analysis abounds in the implications of the use of different methodologies of estimating over-education in terms of both size and ranking among European countries. The production of long-run and updated estimates of over-education for a large sample of countries is done using a homogenous database and different estimation methods

Education mismatch in Europe at the turn of the century: Measurement, intensity and evolution

Purpose. The purpose of this paper is to present the stylized facts of over-education among European graduates over time (1998-2013), paying special attention to the measurement issues. Design/methodology/approach. The authors use two different sources, the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies 2012, and the European Union Labour Force Survey 1998-2013, with two different aims. We employ the first one to make a detailed analysis of the different forms of measuring over-education and its implications in terms of the result obtained. The analysis of the second one responds to study the evolution and characteristics of over-education in Europe. Findings. In first place, the paper provides evidence of the high level of sensitivity of the level of measured over-education to the type of methodology used. Such difference is even higher when we focus on skills versus educational mismatch. The work also shows how with all their shortcomings, the measures of over-education used in the analysis point to the existence of convergence in over-education levels among the European countries of the sample (only interrupted by the crisis), in a context of reduction of over-education rates in many countries. Practical implications. Researchers should be particularly careful when estimating over-education, because of the strong implications in terms of the so different results obtained when choosing between competing methods. Originality/value. The analysis abound in the implications of the use of different methodologies of estimating over-education in terms of both size and ranking among European countries. The production of long-run and updated estimates of over-education for a large sample of countries using a homogenous database and different estimation methods. Paper type. Research paper

Education mismatch in Europe at the turn of the century: Measurement, intensity and evolution

Purpose. The purpose of this paper is to present the stylized facts of over-education among European graduates over time (1998-2013), paying special attention to the measurement issues. Design/methodology/approach. The authors use two different sources, the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies 2012, and the European Union Labour Force Survey 1998-2013, with two different aims. We employ the first one to make a detailed analysis of the different forms of measuring over-education and its implications in terms of the result obtained. The analysis of the second one responds to study the evolution and characteristics of over-education in Europe. Findings. In first place, the paper provides evidence of the high level of sensitivity of the level of measured over-education to the type of methodology used. Such difference is even higher when we focus on skills versus educational mismatch. The work also shows how with all their shortcomings, the measures of over-education used in the analysis point to the existence of convergence in over-education levels among the European countries of the sample (only interrupted by the crisis), in a context of reduction of over-education rates in many countries. Practical implications. Researchers should be particularly careful when estimating over-education, because of the strong implications in terms of the so different results obtained when choosing between competing methods. Originality/value. The analysis abound in the implications of the use of different methodologies of estimating over-education in terms of both size and ranking among European countries. The production of long-run and updated estimates of over-education for a large sample of countries using a homogenous database and different estimation methods. Paper type. Research paper

Skills analysis report for Sheffield City region

Warwick IER was commissioned to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the Sheffield City Region labour market in 2021. Based on the Skills Advisory Panel analytical toolkit the analysis focused on analysing the components of the supply and demand for labour, and the intersection of the two i.e. mechanisms that translates demand into supply. The report includes analyses of the youth, HE and adult labour markets

Does teaching quality matter? Students learning outcome related to teaching quality in public and private primary schools in India

This paper investigates how teaching quality impacts students’ outcomes in public and low fee charging private schools in India. Drawing on Young Lives longitudinal study, students in private schools have a significantly higher mathematics score than public schools. Across public and private schools, teachers’ characteristics such as experience, gender, content knowledge and general education qualifications do not have significant influence on students’ learning outcome. Proximity of teacher's residence to the school, teacher's professional qualification and teacher's attitude towards schools and students and teaching practices such as regular checking of books, emerge as important determinants of students’ outcome