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1. Does Employment Protection Affect Unemployment? A Meta-analysis

Author:
Philipp Heimberger
Publication Date:
02-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW)
Abstract:
Despite extensive research efforts, the magnitude of the effect of employment protection legislation (EPL) on unemployment remains unclear. Existing econometric estimates exhibit substantial variation, and it is therefore difficult to draw valid conclusions. This paper applies meta-analysis and meta-regression methods to a unique data set consisting of 881 observations on the effect of EPL on unemployment from 75 studies. Once we control for publication selection bias, we cannot reject the hypothesis that the average effect of EPL on unemployment is zero. The meta-regression analysis, which investigates sources of heterogeneity in the reported effect sizes, reveals the following main results. First, the choice of the EPL variable matters: estimates that build on survey-based EPL variables report a significantly stronger unemployment-increasing impact of EPL than estimates developed using EPL indices based on the OECD’s methodology, where the latter relies on coding information from legal provisions. Second, we find that employment protection has a small unemployment-increasing effect on female unemployment, compared with a zero impact on total unemployment. Third, using multi-year averages of the underlying data tends to dampen the unemployment effects of EPL. Fourth, product market regulation is found to moderate the effect of EPL on unemployment.
Topic:
Labor Issues, European Union, Employment, Unemployment, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Political Geography:
Europe and Global Focus

2. How Much Lockdown is Enough?

Author:
Sarah Cliffe, Paul von Chamier, and Nendirmwa Noel
Publication Date:
05-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:
Lockdown measures have been an integral tool in the fight against COVID-19. But they come at a high cost, given their impacts on economies, employment and incomes, education, food systems, mental health and even the potential for civil unrest. This policy briefing by Sarah Cliffe, Paul von Chamier, and Nendirmwa Noel examines how countries are balancing the need for lockdown with policy measures to alleviate their effects and plans for reopening. It provides comparative data on the stringency of lockdowns, showing that while there has been a convergence towards more stringent measures over time, there is also wide variation among countries—even among those in the same region, or income group. A brief case study of Sierra Leone and snapshot examples of policy from ten other countries illustrates the range of answers to the question of how much lockdown is enough.
Topic:
Employment, Economy, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Africa, Sierra Leone, and Global Focus

3. Job Search and Hiring with Two-Sided Limited Information about Workseekers' Skills

Author:
Eliana Carranza, Robert Garlick, Kate Orkin, and Neil Rankin
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
This paper presents field experimental evidence that limited information about workseekers’ skills distorts both firm and workseeker behavior. Assessing workseekers’ skills, giving workseekers their assessment results, and helping them to credibly share the results with firms increases workseekers’ employment and earnings. It also aligns their beliefs and search strategies more closely with their skills. Giving assessment results only to workseekers has similar effects on beliefs and search, but smaller effects on employment and earnings. Giving assessment results only to firms increases callbacks. These patterns are consistent with two-sided information frictions, a new finding that can inform the design of information-provision mechanisms.
Topic:
Labor Issues, Employment, Business, and Job Creation
Political Geography:
Global Focus

4. Gender Differences in Professional Career Dynamics: New Evidence from a Global Law Firm

Author:
Ina Ganguli, Ricardo Hausmann, and Martina Viarengo
Publication Date:
04-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
We examine gender gaps in career dynamics in the legal sector using rich panel data from one of the largest global law firms in the world. The law firm studied is representative of multinational law firms and operates in 23 countries. The sample includes countries at different stages of development. We document the cross-country variation in gender gaps and how these gaps have changed over time. We show that while there is gender parity at the entry level in most countries by the end of the period examined, there are persistent raw gender gaps at the top of the organization across all countries. We observe significant heterogeneity among countries in terms of gender gaps in promotions and wages, but the gaps that exist appear to be declining over the period studied. We also observe that women are more likely to report exiting the firm for family and work-life balance reasons, while men report leaving for career advancement. Finally, we show that various measures of national institutions and culture appear to play a role in the differential labor-market outcomes of men and women.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Labor Issues, Women, Employment, Inequality, Human Capital, and Legal Sector
Political Geography:
Global Focus

5. The Decline of Employment Protection and the Rise of Precarious Work

Author:
Anne Marie Brady
Publication Date:
09-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMFUS)
Abstract:
By 1989, the employment landscape in the United States and Europe had changed significantly from the immediate post-Second World War decades. Between 1960 and 1973, the unemployment rate as a percentage of the total labor force averaged two percent or below in Western Europe’s big economies and 4.8 percent in the United States, but between 1990 and 1995, the average unemployment rate in the United States was 6.4 percent and between 7 and 10.7 percent in Germany, France, and the United Kindgom.1
Topic:
International Political Economy, Employment, and Income Inequality
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6. Women and the Future of Work: Fix the Present

Author:
Charles Kenny
Publication Date:
02-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
There is a lot we don’t know about what automation will mean for jobs in the future, including its impact (if any) on gender inequality. This note reviews evidence and forecasts on that question and makes four main points: Past automation has been (broadly) positive for women’s average quality of life, economic empowerment, and equality. Forecasts of the gendered impact of automation and AI going forward based on the current distribution of employment suggest considerable uncertainty and a gender inequality of impact that is marginal compared to the potential impact overall. The bigger risk—and/or opportunity—is likely to be in the combined impact of automation, policy, and social norms in changing the type of work that is seen as male or female. Minimizing any potential aggravating impact of automation and AI on inequalities in economic power in the future can best be achieved by maximizing economic equality today.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Labor Issues, Employment, Inequality, and Feminism
Political Geography:
Global Focus

7. The Future of Work 2.0: Navigating the Transition to New Possibilities

Author:
Aspen Institute
Publication Date:
05-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Today’s leading businesses are dealing with a changing work environment that goes beyond artificial intelligence and robots. Instead, it encompasses the work machines and humans will do together. This report of the 2018 Roundtable, written by David Gibson, explores the Future of Work 2.0—focusing on how all stakeholders can realize the opportunities and possibilities of automation in the work landscape. It features a robust discussion on education, business structures, models of employment and leadership philosophies.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Communications, Employment, and Automation
Political Geography:
Global Focus

8. Study Abroad Matters: Linking Higher Education to the Contemporary Workforce through International Experience

Author:
Ashley Stipek, Lindsay Calvert, Wagaye Johannes, Shana Childs, Elaina Loveland, and Catherine Morris
Publication Date:
03-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute of International Education
Abstract:
In today’s competitive economy, it takes more than a college degree to convince employers that graduates are ready for the workforce. Study Abroad Matters: Linking Higher Education to the Contemporary Workforce through International Experience, from IIE and the AIFS Foundation, synthesizes leading-edge research to demonstrate that in this globalized era, study abroad has become one of the most powerful ways to prove to employers that graduates have in-demand skills for the contemporary workplace. This paper outlines best practices for high education institutions, industry, and graduates to better articulate the value of study abroad for the contemporary marketplace.
Topic:
Globalization, Employment, Diversity, Language, and Higher Education
Political Geography:
North America, Global Focus, and United States of America

9. Industrial Policy 4.0 Promoting Transformation in the Digital Economy

Author:
Padmashree Gehl Sampath
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
Abstract:
The rise of the fourth industrial revolution (IR) is deeply embedded in a wider context of privatization of knowledge, rising costs of innovation and uneven distribution of capacity between countries. But debates on a ‘balanced’ policy framework to tackle these issues have until now floundered to address some of the fundamental dilemmas of our times. Will the fourth IR render the manufacturing-led model of economic development a thing of the past? Are there new boundaries for innovation and industry in the fourth IR? What should policy do in such an uncertain technological era? This paper addresses these crucial questions and makes a case for comprehensive digital industrial policies that are differentiated and rooted in the broader reality of development and globalization in the fourth IR. The paper maps the new boundaries for innovation and industrialization, after which, it elaborates in detail the market and institution failures in the platform economy that arise from the highly complex nature of technological change and a lack of effective policy oversight. It offers evidence to the effect that although manufacturing as we knew it – with its effects on low and unskilled labour and employment creation - might not continue to exist, it will continue to thrive using high technology skills and R&D, within a new model of industrialization where the knowledge-component of all sectors – agriculture, manufacturing and services – will be on the rise. Countries therefore, need a more nuanced and differentiated industrial policy 4.0 framework that can: (a) sustain overall industrial performance, (b) in a way that helps close the gap to the frontier in a constantly evolving technological landscape, (c) while mitigating the adverse consequences for society, in terms of employment, privacy and latent social fabric. The paper proposes the components of such an industrial policy 4.0 in detail in its concluding section.
Topic:
Industrial Policy, Science and Technology, Employment, and Digital Economy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

10. Unemployment to Reemployment: An Idea to Modernize the Safety Net for the Digital Age

Author:
Gabe Horwitz
Publication Date:
09-2018
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Third Way
Abstract:
The basic tenets of Unemployment Insurance (UI) have changed little since the program was enacted during the Great Depression. It was built as a bridge for workers between jobs in similar industries that required similar skills. You lose your job and a weekly check tides you over until you land a new one, usually doing the same type of work as before.
Topic:
International Affairs and Employment
Political Geography:
Global Focus