Improving the Employment Rates of People with Disabilities through Vocational Education

During the 2001-8 period, the employment rate of people with a disability remained remarkably low in most western economies, hardly responding to better macroeconomic conditions and favourable anti-discrimination legislation and interventions. Continuing health and productivity improvements in the general population are leaving people with disabilities behind, unable to play their role and have their share in the increasing productive capacity of the economy. This paper combines dynamic panel econometric estimation with longitudinal data from Australia to show that vocational education has a considerable and long lasting positive effect on the employment participation and productivity of people with disabilities.vocational training, productivity, disabilities, employment, dynamic panel regression

Zur Arbeitslosigkeits- und Beschäftigungsdauer

"Im Mittelpunkt der Untersuchung steht der Zusammenhang zwischen der Dauer der Arbeitslosigkeit und der sich anschließenden Beschäftigungsdauer. Diese Beziehung wird mit Hilfe von Längsschnittdaten, nämlich der Beschäftigtenstatistik und der Statistik der Leistungsempfänger bei Arbeitslosigkeit für die Zeit 1979-1981 untersucht. Es ergab sich ein positiver Zusammenhang zwischen der Arbeitslosigkeitsdauer und der folgenden Beschäftigungsdauer. Dieses Ergebnis kann so interpretiert werden, daß einige Faktoren, die direkt zu einer längeren Arbeitslosigkeitsdauer beitragen, indirekt auch eine anschließende längere Beschäftigungsdauer bewirken könnten. An einem Modellbeispiel wird dargestellt, wie eine Erhöhung der Arbeitslosenunterstützung sowohl die Arbeitslosigkeits- als auch die Beschäftigungsdauer verlängern kann. Beide Dauern kompensieren sich und der Nettobeschäftigungseffekt wird Null. Eine Reihe denkarer ökonomischer Erklärungen und Zusammenhänge wird dargestellt. Die wichtigste Schlußfolgerung aus der Untersuchung besteht darin, daß man für die Ermittlung des Beschäftigungseffekts einer Maßnahme zugleich den Einluß auf die Arbeitslosigkeit betrachten muß." (Autorenreferat)Arbeitslosigkeit - Dauer, Beschäftigungsdauer, berufliche Reintegration

Intergenerational Transmission of Healthy Eating Behaviour and the Role of Household Income

This paper investigates the possibility of intergenerational transmission of unhealthy eating habits from parents to adult children. It uses the 2003 Scottish Health Survey and estimates the association between the present healthy eating behaviour of adult children and the past parental death from cardiovascular disease (CVD). It uses parental CVD death as an adverse health signal which may cause a healthy eating compensatory response in adult children. This response is due to increased chances and perception of genetic predisposition of adult children as well as an indicator for parental past unhealthy eating habits which may have been passed onto the adult children. Regression analysis suggests that paternal history has no impact on either sons or daughters, and maternal history influences negatively the eating behaviour of daughters only. Unhealthy eating intergenerational transmission appears to be more intense amongst lower household income individuals.intergenerational transmission, healthy eating, household income, cardiovascular disease, public health, gender

Labour Force Participation of Mature Age Men in Australia: The Role of Spousal Participation

In this paper we estimate the interdependence of labour force participation decisions made by Australian couples from 2001 to 2011. We focus on couples with a mature age husband, and estimate the interdependence of the participation decision of the couple. We find that the decision of a wife to work or not influences positively, and in a causal fashion, the decision of her husband to work or not. In our paper we use counterfactual analysis to estimate the impact of the increasing labour force participation of a wife on her husband's participation. We find that the increased labour force participation of married women observed between 2002 and 2011 has been responsible for about a 4 percentage points increase in the participation of their mature age husbands

Student Scores in Public and Private Schools: Evidence from PISA 2009

This paper examines critically the presumption that, other things equal, private schooling offers higher quality education than public schooling. We apply multilevel regression on the 2009 PISA to estimate the differential effect of public and private schooling on student scores in Australia. We control for observable and unobservable influences, at school and student levels. We find that public-private schooling quality estimated differences are not statistically significant, but Catholic schools perform better than both. Differences by sector in the level of resourcing, plays a minor role. Student socioeconomic status differences and resulting selection, drive the observed better private schooling scores outcomes

Adjusting to Skill Shortages: Complexity and Consequences

Skill shortages are often portrayed as a major problem for the economies of many countries including the Australian economy. Yet, there is surprisingly little evidence about their prevalence, causes and consequences. This paper attempts to improve our understanding about these issues by using econometric methods to analyse the Business Longitudinal Database, an Australian panel data-set with information about skill shortages in small- and medium-sized businesses during 2004/05. We use this information to: (1) explore the incidence of skill shortages and the business attributes that are associated with them; (2) identify which businesses face more complex skill shortages, as measured by the number of different causes reported simultaneously; and, uniquely, (3) examine how this complexity affects businesses' responses to skill shortages and aspects of their subsequent performance. We show that complex skill shortages are more likely than simpler (single-cause) skill shortages to persist and to trigger defensive responses from businesses. We reject the conception of skill shortages as a homogenous phenomenon, and demonstrate the importance of distinguishing between skill shortages according to whether they have simple or complex causes.skill shortages, small medium enterprises

An Analysis of the Impact of Socioeconomic Disadvantage and School Quality on the Probability of School Dropout

PISA scores are an internationally established indicator of student and school performance. This paper builds on the evidence that better PISA scores are known to be associated with better later life outcomes. It uses the Australian PISA micro-level data in combination with its longitudinal continuation in the LSAY data, to measure the degree to which individual PISA scores are associated with individual early school dropouts. It distinguishes between student and school factors and estimates a model of the propensity to drop out from school between ages 15 and 18. The paper finds that PISA scores are a good predictor of early dropout, and that individual and social disadvantage plays a crucial role in this relationship both directly and indirectly

Recalls - Wiederbeschäftigung im alten Betrieb (Recalls - re-employment in the same firm)

"In the article the extent and distribution of recalls in the Federal Republic of Germany are examinded for the first time and are related to all the cases of recruitment in employment covered by the social security system. The empirical results are based on the evaluations of the IAB employment sample for the years 1975-1990. - Of 7,5 million entries into employment with remuneration in 1989, 6,87 million were new employment contracts and 630,000 were continuations of employment after interruptions in accordande with insurance legislation, in which the right to the job was maintained; - 1,2 million recruitments were assigned to cases of first employment covered by the social security system; - 5,67 million recuitments were made after preceding unemployment or non-activity. Among these were 821,000 recalls into the firms where those concerned had previously been employed, and 4,85 million cases of a change to another company, in some cases with longer-term unemployment or non-activity. Recalls therefore made up about 12% of all new employment contracts. They were to be found mainly in seasonnally dependent industries and outdoor occupations. Of the men almost half of the cases were skilled workers and master craftsmen, more than 40% of the women were in part-time employment. By of legal and economic criteria a typology of the recalls is drawn up, according to which for the men 30% of the cases were assigned to seasonal work, 30% to temporary activities, 20% to recalls due to economic factors and 18% to recalls after longer periods of non-activity without employment benefit. As for the women, 60% of their recalls were assigned to temporary work, 10% to seasonal work and 15% each to recalls due to economic factors and recalls after periods of non-employment. Among the men 2-3% of the recalls were made after supported further training measures (women less than 1%) For men the frequency of recalls with regard to the (total number of) recruitments decreases with the size of the company, whereas women in medium-sized companies have the greatest changes of being recalled. The distribution of recalls according to industries, occupations and other characteristics is shown in the appendix of tables." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))Wiederbeschäftigung, IAB-Beschäftigtenstichprobe, vorübergehende Entlassungen, Erwerbsunterbrechung, Personaleinstellung - Struktur, Geschlechterverteilung, Berufsstruktur, zwischenbetriebliche Mobilität, Altersstruktur, Wirtschaftszweige, Saisonarbeit

Verteilungseffekte der Arbeitslosenversicherung in Deutschland in den 80er Jahren (Distribution effects of unemployment insurance in Germany in the 1980s)

"In this article the contributions to the unemployment insurance scheme and the expenditure on the benefits under this scheme are estimated from the microdata of the IAB employment sample for the period 1980-1989. The distribution of contributions and expenditure is estimated according to three variables: the age of contributors and benefit recipients, and the size of the enterprise and the industry in which they previously worked. In this way areas of unemployment insurance can be identified in which the contributions do not cover the expenditure on selected benefits and where absolute deficits are therefore produced. By comparing the structure of contributions and benefits it is also possible to determine relative deficit areas in which the contribution margin is insufficient. With the aid of the mismatch indicator, global trends of the distribution effect are shown: The deficit from the benefits to older unemployed people increased in the late 1980s. The deficit from younger workers lessened in the study period, but remained an underproportional contribution. A large proportion of the benefits is paid to unemployed people who subsequently leave the labour market permanently. More than one third of the benefits were paid to this group. As the size of the enterprise increases, so too does the proportion of benefits increase which is paid to unemployed people before their withdrawal from the labour market. This trend increased in the course of the 1980s. Branches of industry which are subject to seasonal influences and have many recalls put pressure on the unemployment insurance scheme. About 10% of the benefits are paid to recipients who are taken on again by their old company." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))Arbeitslosenversicherung, Verteilungseffekte, IAB-Beschäftigtenstichprobe, Arbeitslosengeld, Arbeitslosenhilfe, Unterhaltsgeld, mismatch, Leistungsempfänger, Wirtschaftszweige, Betriebsgröße, Altersstruktur

Low Paid Employment in Britain: Estimating State-Dependence and Stepping Stone Effects

Using 18 waves of the British Household Panel Study, this paper examines state dependence and stepping stone effects of low pay. A distinguishing feature is that five types of transition- not in the labour force (NILF), unemployment, self-employment, low pay and higher pay are modelled separately. The results show that both state dependence and stepping stone effects of low pay are present. However, there is no evidence to support a low-pay no-pay cycle. The introduction of the national minimum wage does not appear to have affected state-dependence and stepping stone effects of low pay