Suchergebnisse

Holzer published a recent analysis of the potential of the publicly-funded US workforce system to reduce unemployment and boost labor force participation. He makes a strong argument for increasing basic supports for work engagement as a way of getting disconnected workers back on the job.
The post Can Workforce Development Programs Improve Labor Force Participation? appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI.

The supply side of the labor market has too often been neglected in considering the effects of minimum wage legislation. Minimum wage effects on unemployment have been studied extensively, and the unemployment rate has been related in turn to the labor force participation rate. But the relationship between minimum wages and labor force participation has been almost completely ignored in the published literature.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the behavior peculiarities of the labor force participation in Eastern European countries.Design/methodology/approachThe authors provide the analysis of nonlinearity in dynamics of economic active population and perform the econometric analysis using logistic smooth transition autoregressive models that are flexible and capture various kinds of behavior for different modes. The paper investigates labor markets of six Eastern European countries, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Croatia that are characterized by lower level of labor force participation rate (LFPR) than average level in EU.FindingsThe results of modeling quantitatively characterize smooth changes in the behavior modes of labor force activity for each country and indicate how population economic activity depends on previous labor market states. The estimated slope parameters that determine the smoothness of transition between regimes show that, in all countries, the labor force participation quite quickly reacts to changes that occurred on the labor market in the past. During recession periods, households of European countries that joint EU last decade in order to prevent the depletion of their total income increased labor supply and showed increased activity in job search.Originality/valueThis paper indicates the nonlinearity and asymmetry in LFPR in transition economies, discovers variety of its dynamics in the different regimes and determines the indicators that cause the change of the population economic activity behavior in each country.

AbstractLow female labor force participation (FLFP) rate in Iran, at the time that women's education has been rising and their fertility rates have been falling, has remained a puzzle. By estimating elasticities of participation and hours with respect to wages (the extensive and intensive margins), this paper tries to shed some light on this puzzle. Using a structural estimation and controlling for selection, it depicts that the elasticity of women's participation in the labor force with respect to wages is quite large, especially for married women. Based on this, one may argue that women's participation is very sensitive to wages. But this is not consistent with the stylized facts about FLFP in Iran. The plausible implication of such elasticities, however, is that non-participating women have potential wages close to the wages of those who participate. Therefore, lower potential wages cannot be the factor that strongly dissuades women from participation. Instead, anticipated factors, such as labor market institutions and preferences, could be the underlying force hindering women from participation. The low FLFP rate can be explained better in light of these findings. The implications for policy and research are discussed.

Abstract.  Using data from 80 countries, this article analyzes whether Protestant religion affects labor market outcomes. Controlling for the impact of labor market regulations, business regulations, the tax burden, the business cycle, the level of economic development, demographic and geographical conditions, wars, and the transition from planned to market economy as well as unobserved country and year effects, we find that countries in which the largest portion of the population practices Protestant religion have substantially higher labor force participation and employment rates, particularly among women. We obtain the same result for a subgroup of 19 industrial countries for which we have better data to control for the impact of labor market institutions and business cycle fluctuations.

Abstract The objective of this study is to examine female labor force participation and its determinants in rural and urban China. The sociological literature has demonstrated that participation tends to increase in urban and industrialized places where women have higher levels of education and fewer children, where more workers are engaged in service pursuits, and where family structure is less traditional. With the use of data on counties and cities (N = 2,377) from the I‐percent sample of the 1982 census of the People's Republic of China, it was found that female labor force participation is likely to rise in areas with increased agricultural employment, educational levels, proportion of female‐headed households, and higher male‐to‐female sex ratios. Both the size of the service sector and the fertility rate had negligible effects on female labor force participation. Although, on average, rural places have slightly higher levels of female labor force participation, when other variables are controlled, urban places have a higher rate of female participation. In addition, the findings suggest that market factors (i.e., education) are more likely to determine the rate of female labor force participation in urban areas; whereas demographic and social factors (i.e., sex ratio and household structure) play a more important role in explaining the female labor force participation in rural counties.