Academic Literature

Carrer Choice of Middle School Students – A small percentage of the students correctly knew the educational requirements

Students in school face a wide range of education and career choices, and given the importance of education and career decisions for life success, it is important that they make informed choices. This study examined students’ knowledge and sources of information about careers. In addition, the authors explored how students make career choices and who … Continue reading →

Training and Subcontracting in Value Chains – The lower down, the more its position correlates with low levels of training

Subcontracting strategies in labour-intensive industries have escalated over the past forty years. They are reflected in the fragmentation and geographic dispersion of the activities that make up the so-called value chains. It is already known that these strategies tend to influence employees’ employment and working conditions. In addition, our results point to the existence of … Continue reading →

Skills and the Future of Work – Forecasts of extremely rapid change are not based on empirical record

In this paper, existing evidence on levels of job skill requirements is examined to provide an understanding of historical trends and current levels. It also provides a frame of reference for evaluating predictions regarding future changes in job skill requirements. High levels of inequality accompanied by changes in technology, employment relations, and the global division … Continue reading →

Education – To what degree are labor market outcomes all set by the end of lower secondary school?

To what degree are labor market outcomes all set by the end of lower secondary school? Does GPA from lower secondary school predict earnings and employment status 13 years later, or do factors related to socio economic status (SES) and un- observable personality traits matter more? Across nations, large proportions of younger birth cohorts obtain … Continue reading →

Covid and Meeting for Work – People spent less time in meetings per day (-11.5 percent) in the post-lockdown period research finds

For all the anecdotes and speculation about working from home during the pandemic, there is still little systematic evidence about how employees have changed their day-to-day work activities as a consequence of these unexpected shocks. In particular, how have employees changed their patterns of digital communication — e.g., meetings and emails — to compensate for … Continue reading →

COVID-19 Downturn in UK – What can previous recessions tell us ?

Understanding what we can and cannot learn from previous recessions is important for the current downturn- there are some similarities, but also some marked distinctions. The starkest difference is the occurrence of a discrete, immediate lockdown of some sectors. This contrasts with the archetypical recession in which economic activity slows down continuously, as firms shut … Continue reading →

Older Workers – Ageist Language in Job Ads

We study the relationships between ageist stereotypes – as reflected in the language used in job ads – and age discrimination in hiring, exploiting the text of job ads and differences in callbacks to older and younger job applicants from a resume (correspondence study) field experiment. We develop and implement methods to explore the role … Continue reading →

Soft Skills Perceptions Gap – Employees seem to regard their skills more highly than do their employers

Purpose: Previous studies have shown that soft skills play a significant role in applicants’ employability and in the job search, recruitment, selection and hiring process. However, past research indicates a gap in perceptions of soft skills, between employees and employers. The present empirical research aims to explore this gap in perceptions and to suggest effective … Continue reading →

Global Perspective on Home Working – In low-income countries, only one of every 26 jobs can be done from home

This paper presents new estimates of the share of jobs that can be performed from home. The analysis is based on the task content of occupations, their information and communications technology requirements, and the availability of internet access by country and income groupings. Globally, one of every five jobs can be performed from home. The … Continue reading →

Skills and Wages – Employment has primarily increased in occupations where workers have larger-than-average endowments of verbal and technical abilities and social maturity

Abstract Using very detailed register data on cognitive abilities and productive personality traits for nearly all Swedish males at age 18, we show that employment in the recent past has shifted towards skill-intensive occupations. Employment growth is monotonically skill biased in relation to this set of general-purpose transferable skills, despite the well-known U-shaped (”polarizing”) relationship … Continue reading →

Inflation and Unemployment in US and Europe – The large drop in US core inflation is fully accounted for by sharply higher unemployment but it still a genuine puzzle in the Euro zone

• The years leading up to COVID-19 saw persistently low inflation, … • something that came to be called by some the “missing inflation puzzle.” • Rising unemployment and weak demand are now pushing inflation down, … • though low inflation does not mean that something is automatically “missing.” • We update our Phillips curve … Continue reading →

Social Safety Net in US – It has not led disrupted local economies to recover

Our research indicates that recessions produce enduring economic disruptions to local economies, and this pattern has existed for at least the past five decades. Consequently, recessions likely play a role in the shift of economic activity across places over time; this, in turn, has implications for economic opportunity for people who grow up in areas … Continue reading →

Time Limits to Social Assistance in US – Decreased welfare participation by 22 percent and transfer income by 6 percent

BRIEF HIGHLIGHTS Several states imposed time limits for welfare receipt in the wake of the Great Recession. Stricter time limits decreased welfare participation by 22 percent and transfer income by 6 percent. The time limits tend to decrease earnings in states without generous benefits at baseline. Separation from work and welfare diminishes families’ access to … Continue reading →

COVID in US and Job Training – How does it matter ? (video)

Labor Market Impacts of the Covid in US – Reductions in employment, and the associated increases in employment exit rates and decreases in hiring rates, were disproportionately concentrated in low-wage jobs

We study the distributional consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic’s impacts on employment. Using data through April 2020 from the Current Population Survey (CPS) — the primary source of labor force statistics for the United States — we document three key facts. First, we show that the pandemic-induced reductions in employment, and the associated increases in … Continue reading →