How Many Danish Jobs Can (Potentially) Be Done Elsewhere?

This paper employs a new survey technique to arrive at estimates of the proportion of jobs with the characteristic that they can be performed elsewhere than currently, in particular in other countries. The results from the survey which was carried out in November 2008 indicate that the proportion of current jobs with offshorability characteristics in Denmark is in the 20 to 30 percent range. Danish jobs that could potentially be carried out elsewhere are primarily found in the services sector (financial and business services) and they are typically performed by employees from the middle of the wage distributionJobs; offshorability; outsourcing

Managerial Pay and Executive Turnover in the Czech and Slovak Republics

Despite the crucial role played by managers in changing the functioning of labour markets in transition economies, research on the determinants of executive pay and CEO turnover in these countries is almost non-existent. The current paper aims at adding to this minuscule literature. For this purpose I make use of a unique data set containing relevant firm-manager information from the Czech and Slovak Republics in the late nineties. This allows me to examine the influence of individual and in particular firm characteristics, such as, size, ownership type, industry and region, as well as corporate performance on chief executive compensation levels and changes therein and on the probability of the executive being turned over.Managerial Compensation; CEO Turnover; Corporate Performance

Wages or Fringes? Some Evidence on Trade-offs and Sorting

The two key predictions of hedonic wage theory are that there is a trade-off between wages and nonmonetary rewards and that the latter can be used as a sorting device by firms to attract and retain the kind of employees they desire. Empirical analysis of these topics are scarce as they require detailed data on all monetary as well as nonmonetary rewards, not only for the job chosen but also for alternative offers. In this paper this data predicament is solved by the use of the vignettes method to estimate individuals\u27 willingness to pay for fringe benefits and job amenities. We find clear negative wage-fringe trade-offs, considerable heterogeneity in willingness to pay for fringe benefits, and signs of sorting. The findings imply that personnel economics models can be applied also to the analysis of nonmonetary rewards

The Role of Family Background for Earnings in Rural China

This paper provides estimates of brother income correlations for rural China. Brother correlations are a parsimonious measure of the importance of family and community background as determinants of individuals’ economic status. We find internationally high levels of income similarity for brothers and siblings: 0.57 and 0.58, respectively. We show that compared with the 1990s, income correlations have decreased in more recent years, but remain high. Furthermore, we document virtually no differences between the coastal and interior provinces and by father’s education. The high brother correlations imply that the high level of income inequality in China is likely to persist.Family background; sibling correlation; income inequality

Performance Pay and the "Time Squeeze"

Earlier studies of the impact of performance pay on individuals’ behavior have primarily been concerned with the effects on their earnings and productivity. The productivity increases associated with the adoption of performance pay practices may, however, come at the expense of quality of life at or outside work. In this paper we study the effect on the employees’ out-of-work activities, testing whether performance pay contracts lead to a “time squeeze” for non-work activities. In doing so, we distinguish between two effects, a substitution effect and a discretion effect. On the one hand, since the marginal payoff to work is higher under a performance pay contract, employees will work more and spend less time on private activities (substitution effect). On the other hand, to the extent that employees have some choice over their work hours, if employees are more productive they can do the same job in less time and have more spare time for private activities (discretion effect). We distinguish between those services that the employee can buy in the market (e.g., cleaning, cooking) and leisure activities (e.g., sports, cultural activities).Performance pay; Out-of-work activities; Time allocation; Work-family balance

Inequality of Opportunity and Income Inequality in Nine Chinese Provinces, 1989-2006

While there is a large and growing body of research describing and analyzing changes in the Chinese income distribution, researchers have paid considerable less attention to inequality of opportunity. The aim of this paper is to contribute to filling this gap in the literature. The two main questions addressed empirically for the first time in a Chinese context are: To what extent are individuals’ incomes and individual income differences due to factors beyond the individual’s control (in Roemer’s terminology “circumstances”) and to what extent are they due to outcomes of the individual’s own choices (“effort”). What is the relationship between income inequality and inequality of opportunity? For this purpose we use data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey collected from nine provinces during the period 1989 to 2006. The CHNS has detailed information about incomes and other factors enabling us to construct a host of circumstance and effort variables for the offspring. We find that China has a substantial degree of inequality of opportunity. Parental income and parents’ type of employer explain about two thirds of the total inequality of opportunity. Notably, parental education plays only a minor role implying that parental connections remain important. The results show that the increase in income inequality during the period under study largely mirrors the increase in inequality of opportunity. Thus, increased income inequality does not reflect changes in effort variables, or expressed differently, increased income inequality has not been accompanied by a decrease in inequality of opportunityInequality of opportunity; Income inequality; China

The adoption of job rotation: testing the theories.

This paper tests three possible explanations for why firms adopt job rotation: employee learning (rotation makes employees more versatile), employer learning (through rotation, employers learn more about individual workers' strengths), and employee motivation (rotation mitigates boredom). Whereas previous studies have examined either establishment characteristics or a single firm's personnel records, this study merges information from a detailed survey of Danish private sector firms with linked employer-employee panel data, allowing firm characteristics, work force characteristics, and firms' human resource management practices to be included as explanatory variables. The results reject the employee motivation hypothesis, but support the employee learning and, especially, the employer learning hypotheses. Firms allocating more resources to training were more likely to rotate workers; rotation schemes were more common in less hierarchical firms and in firms with shorter average employee tenure; and both firm growth rates and firms' use of nation-wide recruitment were positively associated with rotation schemes.Job rotation;

The Adoption of Job Rotation: Testing the Theories

The aim of this paper is to test three theories for why firms introduce job rotation schemes: employee learning, employer learning, and employee motivation. The earlier literature has made use of either information about establishment characteristics or data coming from personnel records of a single firm. In order to improve upon this, we make use of a unique data set constructed by merging information from a fairly detailed survey directed at Danish private sector firms with a linked employer-employee panel data. This allows us to include firm and workforce characteristics as well as firms HRM practices as explanatory variables, and hence to carry out a more comprehensive analysis.Job rotation; employee learning; employer learning; employee motivation

Vacancy Duration, Wage Offers, and Job Requirements - Pre-Match Data Evidence

Besides wage offers, credentials like education, work experience and skill requirements are key screening tools for firms in their recruitment of new employees. This paper contributes some new evidence to a relatively tiny literature on firms’ recruitment behaviour. In particular, our analysis is concerned with how vacancy durations vary with firms’ minimum wage offers and minimum job requirements (regarding education, skills, age, gender and earlier work experience). The empirical analysis is based on ten employer surveys carried out by the DGBAS on Taiwan during the period 1996-2006. We estimate logistic discrete hazard models with a rich set of job and firm characteristics as explanatory variables. The results show that vacancies associated with higher wage offers take, ceteris paribus, longer to be filled. The impact of firms’ wage offers and credential requirements does not vary over the business cycle. However, firms vary their skills requirements over the business cycle: our empirical analysis shows that, for a given wage offer, requirements are stricter in recessions and downturns. Separating between reasons for posting vacancies turned out important in explaining differences in vacancy durations. The duration of vacancies due to regular turnover and changing business cycle condition are less affected by skill requirements than that of other vacant jobs.Job vacancies; Recruitment; Wage offers; Job requirements

Wages or Fringes? Some Evidence on Trade-offs and Sorting

The two key predictions of hedonic wage theory are that there is a trade-off between wages and nonmonetary rewards and that the latter can be used as a sorting device by firms to attract and retain the kind of employees they desire. Empirical analysis of these topics are scarce as they require detailed data on all monetary as well as nonmonetary rewards, not only for the job chosen but also for alternative offers. In this paper this data predicament is solved by the use of the vignettes method to estimate individuals' willingness to pay for fringe benefits and job amenities. We find clear negative wage-fringe trade-offs, considerable heterogeneity in willingness to pay for fringe benefits, and signs of sorting. The findings imply that personnel economics models can be applied also to the analysis of nonmonetary rewards.fringe benefits, nonmonetary rewards, trade-off, sorting, heterogeneity