Birds, Birds, Birds: Co-worker Similarity, Workplace Diversity and Job Switches
Boris Hirsch, Elke J. Jahn, Thomas Zwick
British Journal of Industrial Relations,
forthcoming
Abstract
We investigate how the demographic composition of the workforce along the sex, nationality, education, age and tenure dimensions affects job switches. Fitting duration models for workers’ job‐to‐job turnover rate that control for workplace fixed effects in a representative sample of large manufacturing plants in Germany during 1975–2016, we find that larger co‐worker similarity in all five dimensions substantially depresses job‐to‐job moves, whereas workplace diversity is of limited importance. In line with conventional wisdom, which has that birds of a feather flock together, our interpretation of the results is that workers prefer having co‐workers of their kind and place less value on diverse workplaces.
Read article
Financial Literacy and Self-employment
Aida Ćumurović, Walter Hyll
The Journal of Consumer Affairs,
forthcoming
Abstract
In this paper, we study the relationship between financial literacy and self‐employment. We use established financial literacy questions to measure literacy levels. The analysis shows a highly significant and positive correlation between the index and self‐employment. We address the direction of causality by applying instrumental variable techniques based on information about maternal education. We also exploit information on financial support and family background to account for concerns about the exclusion restriction. The results provide support for a positive effect of financial literacy on the probability of being self‐employed. As financial literacy is acquirable, the findings suggest that entrepreneurial activities might be increased by enhancing financial literacy.
Read article
Fehlende Fachkräfte in Deutschland – Unterschiede in den Betrieben und mögliche Erklärungsfaktoren: Ergebnisse aus dem IAB-Betriebspanel 2018
Eva Dettmann, Daniel Fackler, Steffen Müller, Georg Neuschäffer, Viktor Slavtchev, Ute Leber, Barbara Schwengler
IAB-Forschungsbericht 10/2019,
2019
Abstract
In the years after the economic crisis, the economic situation of establishments in West and East Germany has improved steadily. At the same time, increased labor market dynamics and a positive trend in total employment can be observed. Also the demand for skilled employees reached a new high of 2.7 million in 2018. Only about 60 percent of the demand could be covered, which is also reflected in a further increase of the so-called non-occupancy quota. With regard to the distribution of this indicator for skilled labor shortages, we observe clear sector- and size-specific differences as well as regional heterogeneity. The quota is particularly high in the construction industry and in agriculture and forestry, with more than half the positions left vacant. A positive correlation between shortages of skilled labor and the use of temporary work, flexible working hours and investments in vocational training and further education is assessed in a multivariate analysis. The structure of formal occupational skill requirements did not change very much over recent years. However, a clear trend towards more flexible work organization can be observed. For example, about one quarter of the establishments offer teleworking. The share of part-time employment is also increasing nationwide, especially in sectors with a higher proportion of women, such as the service industries or the public sector. The share of marginal employment is particularly high in sectors that are characterized by cyclical and/or seasonal demand fluctuations or comparatively unspecific skill requirements – and above-average shortages of skilled labor. In 2018, the proportion of establishments authorized to provide in-house vocational training rose for the first time since 2010 – to 54 percent in Germany. In Eastern Germany, the share is significantly lower at 49 percent. The proportion of authorized establishments that actually train apprentices has been relatively stable at around 50 percent for several years. Both successfully occupied and vacant apprenticeships are distributed very heterogeneously across sectors. The recruitment rate of successful graduates is about three quarters. In establishments with skilled labor shortages, both the training rate and the graduate hiring rate are higher, suggesting that vocational training is already used here as an alternative strategy for recruiting skilled employees. The share of establishments supporting further education of their employees remains stable at about fifty percent for several years, and the proportion of employees participating in training is still about one third. A comparatively higher rate of further education among unskilled employees in establishments with skilled labor shortages indicates that internal resources are being increasingly used here to meet the demand for skilled employees.
Read article
19.09.2019 • 19/2019
Long-term effects of privatisation in eastern Germany: award-winning US economist begins large-scale research project at the IWH
It is one of the most prestigious awards in the German scientific community: the Max Planck-Humboldt Research Award 2019 endowed with €1.5 million goes to Ufuk Akcigit, Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago. At the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), Akcigit aims to use innovative methods to investigate why the economy in eastern Germany is still lagging behind that in western Germany – and what role the privatisation process 30 years ago played in this.
Reint E. Gropp
Read press release
College Choice, Selection, and Allocation Mechanisms: A Structural Empirical Analysis
J.-R. Carvalho, T. Magnac, Qizhou Xiong
Quantitative Economics,
No. 3,
2019
Abstract
We use rich microeconomic data on performance and choices of students at college entry to analyze interactions between the selection mechanism, eliciting college preferences through exams, and the allocation mechanism. We set up a framework in which success probabilities and student preferences are shown to be identified from data on their choices and their exam grades under exclusion restrictions and support conditions. The counterfactuals we consider balance the severity of congestion and the quality of the match between schools and students. Moving to deferred acceptance or inverting the timing of choices and exams are shown to increase welfare. Redistribution among students and among schools is also sizeable in all counterfactual experiments.
Read article
26.06.2019 • 14/2019
Study: How financial crises lower life satisfaction and how to prevent this
Financial crises not only result in severe disruptions to the economic system, they also affect people’s life satisfaction. A new study by Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) shows that weaker members of society are more affected by increased uncertainty during crisis times, even if they may not be speculating on the stock market themselves. This could potentially also lower their propensity to consume, thereby intensifying the impact of a financial crisis. The study was recently published in “The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy”.
Lena Tonzer
Read press release
Stellungnahme zum „Strukturstärkungsgesetz Kohleregionen“ anlässlich der Anhörung im Ausschuss für Wirtschaft und Energie des Deutschen Bundestages am 15. Mai 2019
Oliver Holtemöller, Christoph Schult
IWH Online,
No. 2,
2019
Abstract
Die Bundesregierung plant, bis zum Jahr 2038 die Produktion von Strom aus Braunkohle zu beenden. Den von dem Braunkohleausstieg besonders betroffenen Regionen will die Bundesregierung finanzielle Hilfe für den Strukturwandel gewähren. Dazu soll das „Strukturstärkungsgesetz Kohleregionen“ beschlossen werden. In dieser Stellungnahme werden ökonomische Aspekte des vorgesehenen beschleunigten Braunkohleausstiegs diskutiert. Zentrale Aussagen der Stellungnahme sind, dass ein beschleunigter Braunkohleausstieg zwar geeignet ist, nationale Emissionsziele zu erreichen, aber die europäischen bzw. globalen Treibhausgasemissionen dadurch kaum beeinflusst werden. Die gesamtwirtschaftlichen Kosten eines beschleunigten Braunkohleausstiegs dürften überschaubar sein, aber die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung in einzelnen Regionen würde aufgrund der regionalen Konzentration des Braunkohleabbaus deutlich beeinträchtigt werden. Maßnahmen zur Förderung des Strukturwandels in den betroffenen Regionen sollten an den wichtigsten langfristigenWachstumstreibern Bildung sowie Forschung und Entwicklung ansetzen und vor allem das Humankapital stärken. Eine Konzentration auf die Förderung von Sachinvestitionen, auf die Industrie oder auf bestimmte Technologien ist hingegen nicht aussichtsreich in Bezug auf langfristige ökonomische Ziele.
Read article
Associate Professor in Microeconomics, Productivity Research (W2) (m/f/x)
Job Vacancy Associate Professor in Microeconomics, Productivity...
See page
Elevated Uncertainty during the Financial Crisis: Do Effects on Subjective Well-being Differ across European Countries?
Lena Tonzer
B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy,
No. 2,
2019
Abstract
This paper focuses on the effect of uncertainty as reflected by financial market variables on subjective well-being. The analysis is based on Eurobarometer surveys, covering 18 countries over the period 2000–2013. Individuals report lower levels of life satisfaction in times of higher uncertainty approximated by stock market volatility. This effect is heterogeneous across respondents: the probability of being unsatisfied is higher for respondents who are older, unemployed, less educated, and live in one of the GIIPS countries of the Euro area. Furthermore, higher uncertainty in combination with a financial crisis increases the probability of reporting low values of life satisfaction.
Read article
