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Unskilled Workers (unskilled + worker)
Selected AbstractsEarnings Differentials between State and Non-State Enterprises in Urban ChinaPACIFIC ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 1 2002Yaohui Zhao The present paper estimates earnings differentials between state and non-state sectors for Chinese urban residents in 1996 by taking into account differences in non-wage benefits. Household survey data are used to estimate wage differentials while aggregate statistics are utilised in estimating non-wage benefits. We find that state-sector workers earned significantly more than workers in urban collective and domestic private enterprises in 1996. Unskilled workers in foreign invested enterprises (FIE) earned significantly less than those in the state sector but skilled workers earned more in FIE than in the state sector. These findings shed light on the source of labour immobility that state-owned enterprise had experienced until recently. [source] INDUSTRIAL DYNAMICS AND THE NEOCLASSICAL GROWTH MODELECONOMIC INQUIRY, Issue 4 2009WILLIAM F. BLANKENAU This paper studies industry-level dynamics and demonstrates the ability of a modified neoclassical growth model to capture a range of empirical facts. The paper begins by using U.S. data to document skilled and unskilled labor trends within industry sector classifications as well as industry sector output trends. Using Current Population Survey data from 1968 to 2004, it is shown that the ratio of skilled workers to unskilled workers employed has risen in all industries. The absolute increase in this ratio was larger in the more skilled industries, while the growth rate was larger in the less skilled industries. Furthermore, using national income account data, it is shown that relatively high-skilled industries have accounted for an increasing share of output over time. A version of the neoclassical growth model is then constructed to match these observations. One important feature of this model is a structure that introduces new goods into the economy at each moment of time. The model is able to capture a rich set of labor market movements between sectors and between skill levels as well as changes in the relative output shares across industries, yet preserves many nice features of the neoclassical growth model.(JEL E13, J20, 030) [source] Capital deepening and wage differentials: Germany versus USECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 49 2007Winfried Koeniger SUMMARY Wage inequality, investment and skills In flexible labour markets, capital increases the productivity of skilled workers more than that of unskilled workers, and in the US faster investment is associated with wider wage inequality. But labour market institutions that keep unskilled workers' wages high also imply that firms may find it profitable to invest so as to boost those workers' productivity. Our empirical analysis based on industry-level data confirms that a higher capital intensity in Germany is associated with smaller wage differentials and with a larger share of unskilled workers in the labour costs. Changes in capital,labour ratios during the 1980s reduced wage differentials by 5,8% in German industries, while in the US capital deepening in such industries as machinery and retail was accompanied by an increase of wage differentials larger than 7%. , Winfried Koeniger and Marco Leonardi [source] The Changing Distribution of Income: Evidence and ExplanationsGERMAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 1 2000Anthony B. Atkinson This article is concerned with the economics of the distribution of income, emphasizing aspects which have been missing from the recent literature. It begins with factor shares and the rise in real interest rates. These are important in their own right and in relation to the determination of wage differentials. The paper questions the conventional wisdom which locates rising inequality and unemployment solely in a shift in demand away from unskilled workers. This explanation is too partial in its approach, is hard to reconcile with the empirical evidence, and ignores labour market institutions and the role of social norms. In seeking to explain the experience of different countries, we need to look not just at wages but also at the capital market, and should not be limited to a simple competitive supply-and-demand story. [source] The labour market effects of globalization in KenyaJOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2004Damiano Kulundu Manda Since the 1980s, Kenya has been gradually integrating with the global economy. Using both industry-level and firm-level data, the paper examines the effects of globalization on employment and earnings in the Kenyan manufacturing sector. The industry-level analysis suggests that the overall effect of international trade on manufacturing employment has been negative in the 1990s. The firm-level analysis indicates that less skilled workers experienced losses in earnings, and that the inequality in earnings between skilled and unskilled workers increased during this period. This suggests that globalization has been associated with adverse labour market outcomes in Kenya. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Second Best Redistributive Policies: The Case Of International TradeJOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMIC THEORY, Issue 1 2001Roger Guesnerie The paper presents a brief review of recent work that focuses on the normative economics of international trade. In a Heckscher,Ohlin-like economy, with skilled and unskilled workers, the available redistributive tools (that include income taxation) are not powerful enough to allow the separation of efficiency and equity issues, and "production efficiency" is no longer desirable. At a social optimum that calls for redistribution toward the unskilled workers, the social value of the unskilled intensive good is necessarily smaller than its production price. This finding allows us to unify existing results and suggests conjectures. [source] PREFERENCE HETEROGENEITY AND ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY,JOURNAL OF REGIONAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2009Antonella Nocco ABSTRACT We investigate the effect of preference heterogeneity between skilled and unskilled workers on agglomeration, and we identify a new source of dependence of equilibrium prices on the demand properties shaped by the inter-regional distribution of workers. We find a new preference effect, and we show that when the intensity of skilled workers' preference for the modern good and its variety is strong enough, prices charged by firms may even increase when the mass of local firms increases, therefore acting as a new dispersion force when trade costs are low or as a new agglomeration force when trade costs are high. [source] Christianity, Gender, and the Working Class in Southern Dunedin, 1880,19401JOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY, Issue 1 2006JOHN STENHOUSE This article is a study of the southern suburbs of Dunedin, which during the late nineteenth century became the most industrialized and working class urban area of New Zealand. Analyzing the social composition of fifteen southern Dunedin churches, I question the idea, widely held by New Zealand historians, that the working classes had largely turned their backs on organized religion. In keeping with recent scholarship in the social history of British and Irish religion, I show that unskilled workers were better represented in many southern Dunedin congregations that previous historians have acknowledged and that skilled workers numerically dominated most churches. When women are included in the analysis, working class predominance increases further. Signing the suffrage petition in remarkable proportions, working class Christian women turned the southern suburbs into a world-leading first wave feminist community. Moreover, varieties of popular Christianity flourished beyond the ranks of active churchgoers. I conclude by suggesting that New Zealand historians need to rethink the old "lapsed masses" and "secular New Zealand" assumptions and to investigate the diverse varieties of Christianity shaping the culture, and their sometimes conflicting this-worldly meanings. [source] Matching Efficiency and Labour Market Reform in Italy: A Macroeconometric AssessmentLABOUR, Issue 1 2007Sergio Destefanis We re-parameterize the matching function as a Beveridge Curve and estimate it as a production frontier, finding huge differences in matching efficiency between the South and the rest of the country. The Treu Act appears to have improved matching efficiency in the North of the country, particularly for skilled workers, but also to have strengthened competition among skilled and unskilled workers, especially in the South. [source] The Impact of Youth Unemployment Policy: A Shift of Workers into the Skilled Labour ForceLABOUR, Issue 3 2004Trine Filges The aim of YUPs is to increase the number of young people acquiring skills and thereby reduce unemployment. We consider the assumption of a completely successful YUP, which delivers higher skills, and analyse what happens when the number of skilled workers increases relative to the number of unskilled workers. The analysis uses a search model with heterogeneous workers and jobs. [source] Technological and organizational changes as determinants of the skill bias: evidence from the Italian machinery industryMANAGERIAL AND DECISION ECONOMICS, Issue 1 2006Mariacristina Piva Recent empirical literature has introduced the ,Skill Biased Organizational Change' (SBOC) hypothesis, according to which organizational change can be considered as one of the main causes of the skill bias (increase in the number of highly skilled workers) exhibited by manufacturing employment in developed countries. This paper focuses on the importance of the SBOC with respect to the more traditional ,Skill Biased Technological Change' in driving the skill composition of workers in the Italian machinery sector. A dynamic panel data analysis is proposed which uses a unique firm-level dataset. The results show that both skilled and unskilled workers are negatively affected by technological change, while organizational change,which in turn may be linked to new technologies,is positively linked to skilled workers. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] INCOME DISTRIBUTION, TECHNICAL CHANGE AND THE DYNAMICS OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATIONMETROECONOMICA, Issue 1 2007Michael A. Landesmann ABSTRACT This paper explores the features of a dynamic multisectoral model that focuses on the relationship between income distribution, growth and international specialization. The model is explored both for the steady-state properties and the transitory dynamics of integrated economies. Income inequality affects the patterns of growth and international specialization as the model uses non-linear Engel curves and hence different income groups are characterized by different expenditure patterns. At the same time income distribution is also reflected in the relative wage rates of skilled to unskilled workers, i.e. the skill premium, and hence the wage structure affects comparative costs of industries which have different skill intensities. The model is applied to a situation that analyses qualitatively different economic development strategies of catching-up economies (a ,Latin American' scenario and a ,East Asian' scenario). [source] Zeitarbeit in Deutschland: Trends und PerspektivenPERSPEKTIVEN DER WIRTSCHAFTSPOLITIK, Issue 2 2006Michael C. Burda In addition, THS can facilitate new employment for both labor market entrants and job losers. This survey examines the economic significance, the changing regulatory framework, and the recent development of the THS sector in Germany. Declining wages and rising employment shares in THS are suggestive of a safety valve for the primary labor market, especially for unskilled workers. High markups charged by THS firms despite declining relative compensation of THS workers suggest a high shadow price for this form of labor input. [source] Mortality in a Swedish rubber tire manufacturing plant: Occupational risks or an "unhealthy worker" effect?AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, Issue 8 2006Gun Wingren PhD Abstract Background In this cohort study a classification of 12 work categories, with specified common exposures, is used to evaluate the mortality among workers in a Swedish rubber tire plant. Methods Mortality among the cohort members is compared with expected values from national rates. Standardized mortality ratios (SMR) were calculated for the total cohort, for sub-cohorts and with the inclusion of a latency requirement. Results Male workers had increased risks for total mortality, circulatory death, respiratory death, mental disorders, epilepsy, injuries/poisoning, and for alcohol-related death. Many risks were noted among workers exposed to dust, fumes, or vapor. No trend in risk with increasing duration of employment was seen. Discussion Some established risks for rubber workers could be related to some specified work categories. The highest risks were noted among workers having a very short duration of employment indicating a possible "unhealthy worker effect" associated with life-style factors or to tasks offered to unskilled workers. Am. J. Ind. Med. 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Optimal Structure of Technology Adoption and Creation: Basic versus Development Research in Relation to the Distance from the Technological Frontier,ASIAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 3 2009Joonkyung Ha O31; O47 Many economists maintain that in order to advance economic growth Asian countries should focus more on basic research than on technology adoption, and more on the supply of skilled workers than the supply of unskilled workers. In this context, this paper presents a theoretical model and empirical evidence to explain the observation that a country in which the level of technology approaches the technology frontier tends to rely more on technology creation than adoption, and invest more in basic research than in development. The model shows that technology creation involves both basic and development research processes, whereas technology adoption uses only the latter process. Therefore, R&D investment in our model involves three different processes: basic research in technology creation, development in technology creation, and development in technology adoption. The results suggest first that the rate of growth is positively correlated with the level of basic research activities in the technology creation sector, if a country's technology gap with the technology frontier is small enough. Second, an increase in the efficiency of the education system for highly skilled workers raises the level of basic research and the rate of growth. Third, verifying these theoretical results, empirical analyses using panel data from Korea, Japan and Taipei, China show that the narrower the distance to the technological frontier, the higher the growth effect of basic R&D, which indicates that the share of basic R&D matters for economic growth. Finally, the results also show that the quality of tertiary education has a significantly positive effect on the productivity of R&D. [source] Who is Better Off from Trade Liberalization?ASIAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 3 2007An Experience from Urban China F16; O15; J31 Empirical studies have found that the skill wage gap (difference between wages earned by skilled and unskilled workers) narrowed in the case of the ,Four Asian Dragons' as they underwent trade liberalization during the 1960s and 1970s, whereas the gap widened in most of the Latin American countries after they liberalized their economies in the 1980s. China's integration into the world economy since 1978 has been used to explain this phenomenon, but few formal studies have been carried out in China regarding the effects of trade liberalization on the skill wage gap because of the limited availability of data. The present study uses unique household surveys conducted in ten provinces of China in 1988 and 1995 to study this issue. Results show that trade liberalization that occurred in China between 1988 and 1995 was responsible for an average increase of 28.73 yuan (approximately 20 percent of the total increase) in average monthly wages. However, trade liberalization significantly widened the urban skill wage gap in China by introducing an increase in income only for those who had 13 years or more of education (at least junior high school graduates). Interestingly, import liberalization also only benefited those who had more than 9 years of schooling; whereas export liberalization brought wage increases for people with 7,12 years of education. Finally, those with specific production skills from technical schools, rather than those with several years of general education, were mostly favored in the labor market in China between 1988 and 1995. [source] UNEMPLOYMENT POLICIES IN AN ECONOMY WITH ADVERSE SELECTIONBULLETIN OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH, Issue 2 2007Noritaka Kudoh D82; J65; J68 ABSTRACT This paper studies the effects of unemployment policies in a simple static general equilibrium model with adverse selection in the labour market. Firms offer a contract that induces the self-selection of workers. In equilibrium, all unskilled workers are screened out and some skilled workers are rationed out. It is shown that the provision of unemployment insurance raises involuntary unemployment by encouraging adverse selection, while unemployment assistance , or subsidy to unemployment , reduces involuntary unemployment. A simple efficiency wage model is also presented to show that either of the two policies reduces employment by taxing effort and subsidizing shirking. The key is whether the social role of unemployment is a sorting device or a worker discipline device. [source] | |||||||||||||