Job Market Monitor
Academic Literature
US – Employers have market power in many labor markets
Using data on the near-universe of online US job vacancies collected by Burning Glass Technologies in 2016, we calculate labor market concentration using the Herfindahl- Hirschman index (HHI) for each commuting zone by 6-digit SOC occupation. The average market has an HHI of 3,953, or the equivalent of 2.5 recruiting employers. 54% of labor markets … Continue reading
Immigrants and PIAAC – If you are not satisfied with your country’s performance, don’t blame them
The international survey of adult skills, PIAAC, records large differences in numeracy and literacy skills between immigrants and non-immigrants. We examine how these differences relate to the countries’ average skills and skill rankings. Immigrants are defined by country of birth or in terms of languages spoken. For almost all countries, the differences in average skills … Continue reading
Education – The private average global rate of return to one extra year of schooling is about 9 percent a year and very stable over decades
Returns to investment in education based on human capital theory have been estimated systematically since the 1950s. The concept of the rate of return on investment in education is very similar to that for any other investment. It is a summary of the costs and benefits of the investment incurred at different points in time, … Continue reading
Careers Within a Firm in US – Wage growth for young workers deteriorated substantially in the first decade of the 2000s
With falling labor market dynamism in the United States, opportunities within firms take on increasing importance in young workers’ career progression. Developing a variety of occupational ranking metrics, the author shows that occupational mobility within firms follows a standard life cycle pattern in which the frequency, distance, and wage return from mobility falls with age. … Continue reading
Immigrants Language Training in France – Hours of training increase labor force participation
We examine the impact of language training on the economic integration of immigrants in France. The language classes are offered by the French Ministry of the Interior after the immigrant signs the Contrat d’accueil et d’intégration. The training is more likely to be available when the test score of an initial language exam is below … Continue reading
Skills Signals for Employers – Cognitive skills, social skills, and maturity have a significant effect on being invited for a job interview
Cognitive and non-cognitive skills predict individuals’ labor-market performance, but employers cannot directly observe the skills of job applicants. While individuals make costly investments to signal skills to potential employers, it is not well understood which and to what extent signals of different skills affect hiring decisions. A more nuanced empirical investigation of the relative importance … Continue reading
University-Educated Immigrants in Australia, Canada, and the US – Performance advantage in US
Recent years have seen a push in the U.S. and in a number of European countries, including the U.K. and Germany, for governments to adopt `point systems’ for screening prospective immigrants on human capital criteria. The appeal of a `points system’ reflects not only concerns about the potential adverse effects of unskilled migrant flows on … Continue reading
Matching to First Jobs – Informal hiring channels are more important in the job matching process during recessions than in booms
A large and active empirical literature has asserted that informal hiring channels can provide firms with information about worker qualities. Informal hiring channels mitigate the inherent uncertainty faced by recruiting firms and thus reduce firm-level hiring costs. But the existence of informal hiring channels may also dampen aggregate labor market fluctuations if recessions provide firms … Continue reading
Graduate Employability – The Work Readiness Scale (WRS)
Work readiness is a relatively new concept which has emerged in the literature as a selection criterion for predicting graduate potential. Its definition and validity however, is contentious. To address this issue, the current study aimed to identify the attributes and characteristics that comprise work readiness and develop a scale to assess graduate work readiness. … Continue reading
Bonuses in Immigrant Language Training – Did not improve average student performance
We study the effects of performance bonuses in immigrant language training for adults. A Swedish policy pilot conducted in 2009–2010 gave a small randomly assigned group of municipalities the right to grant substantial cash bonuses to recently arrived migrants. A conservative interpretation of our results, building on a difference-in-differences approach, suggests that the bonus did … Continue reading
Non-cognitive skills – Much more associated with graduates’ occupational status, especially with managerial occupations, than cognitive skills
While the effect of education and experience on labour market outcomes has been widely studied, the literature that analyses the influence of human capital competencies (talents, skills, and capabilities) is still relatively scarce. Using cross-sectional data from the REFLEX Project, we investigate the effect of personal competencies (both cognitive and non-cognitive) on two labour market … Continue reading
The Gender Gap in STEM – The sex differences in academic strengths and pursuit of STEM degrees rise with increases in national gender equality
The underrepresentation of girls and women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields is a continual concern for social scientists and policymakers. Using an international database on adolescent achievement in science, mathematics, and reading (N = 472,242), we showed that girls performed similarly to or better than boys in science in two of every … Continue reading
Boys, girls and Educational Choices – What about expected earnings ?
Girls frequently choose educational pathways that lead to lower-paid jobs and less prestigious careers, despite performing as well as boys at school. Almost everywhere in developed countries, girls and boys have equal access to education and appear equally free to choose their field of study. Nevertheless, educational choices are highly gendered, and the reasons behind … Continue reading
Apprenticeships in Norway – Schemes that can improve the chances of completing VET
Many countries with apprenticeship-based systems of VET face a shortage of apprenticeships. Some countries, including Denmark and Norway, address this supply-demand mismatch by offering alternative school-based routes to vocational qualifications for students not able to secure an apprenticeship. Other countries offer no alternative routes, but focus instead on pre-vocational education and training to prepare students … Continue reading
STEM in US – Skills that matter to regions
This article highlights research in The STEM Dilemma: Skills That Matter to Regions, which was recently published by the Upjohn Institute. The book looks at the regional workforce through the lens of the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) associated with regional occupations. This fine-grained approach uses data in the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) database to … Continue reading
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