bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Employment Probation as a Sorting Mechanism
Authors: Loh Eng Seng
Published: June 2015

Using data from the 1982 National Center for Research in Vocational Education employer survey, the author finds evidence strongly supporting the hypothesis that employment probation induces self-selection by workers. Those who accepted jobs with probationary employment tended to be more efficient workers and less likely to quit than those who took jobs without probation. The author hypothesizes that workers who fear they will not last through the probationary period, either because they are not sure their performance will be adequate or they think they may quit, will not apply for jobs with probation, whereas those who are more confident that their work will be acceptable and that they will not quit will apply for such jobs in order to obtain the higher wages that commonly attach to jobs with probation.
Health Insurance and Job Mobility: The Effects of Public Policy on Job-Lock
Authors: Gruber Jonathan , Madrian Brigitte C.
Published: June 2015

The authors study a policy of limited insurance portability that has been adopted by a number of states and the federal government over the past 20 years. They find that these “continuation of coverage” mandates, which grant individuals the right to continue purchasing health insurance through their former employers for a specified period after leaving their jobs, are associated with a significant increase in the job mobility of prime age male workers. This finding suggests that “job-lock”—lack of mobility out of Jobs that offer health insurance—arises in large part from short-run concerns over portability rather than from long-run problems.
The Effect of Access to Post-Retirement Health Insurance on the Decision to Retire Early
Authors: Karoly Lynn A. , Rogowski Jeannette A.
Published: June 2015

The authors analyze the effect of the availability of post-retirement health insurance on early retirement behavior of men using data from the 1984, 1986, and 1988 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). They extend previous static models of retirement to account for access to health insurance as a factor in the retirement decision. The estimates from probit models of retirement during the SIPP panel period show that the offer of continued employer-provided health insurance coverage after retirement increased the likelihood of retirement before age 65. Also, the authors find evidence that the presence before retirement of retirement insurance coverage through a source in addition to the employer increased the likelihood of early retirement.
Workers' Preferences among Company-Provided Health Insurance Plans
Authors: Barringer Melissa W. , Mitchell Olivia S.
Published: June 2015

Data from four plants of a single company are used to examine differences in health plan selection in 1989 among employees offered a choice of plans. A 10% increase in the traditional fee-for-service (FFS) plan premium reduced the fraction choosing that plan by 4–9 percentage points, and a doubling of the deductible reduced the plan's market share by 3–4 percentage points. Most workers rejecting such a plan chose the high-premium prepaid plans, which offer the lowest cost-sharing provisions. On the other hand, attaching a modest deductible to prepaid plans reduced their market share by 3–4 percentage points and increased participation in the traditional FFS plan, which requires a relatively high premium but low cost-sharing. The authors also find that increases in real salaries and in the age of the work force boosted employee choice of the traditional FFS plan.
Medical Cost Containment under Workers' Compensation
Authors: Pozzebon Silvana
Published: June 2015

Using data from an extensive sample of insurers' claim reports for the years 1979–87, the author evaluates the effectiveness of medical cost containment policies traditionally used in workers' compensation—namely, fee schedules and limits to choice of provider. She also examines the indirect impact on medical benefit costs of rules governing the availability and amount of workers' compensation income benefits. Contrary to the expectations of policy makers and the findings of some other researchers, the results of this paper suggest that medical cost containment policies and statutory provisions regulating levels of, and eligibility for, indemnity benefits do not effectively contain medical costs.
Human Resource Bundles and Manufacturing Performance: Organizational Logic and Flexible Production Systems in the World Auto Industry
Authors: Macduffie John Paul
Published: June 2015

Using a unique international data set from a 1989–90 survey of 62 automotive assembly plants, the author tests two hypotheses: that innovative HR practices affect performance not individually but as interrelated elements in an internally consistent HR “bundle” or system; and that these HR bundles contribute most to assembly plant productivity and quality when they are integrated with manufacturing policies under the “organizational logic” of a flexible production system. Analysis of the survey data, which tests three indices representing distinct bundles of human resource and manufacturing practices, supports both hypotheses. Flexible production plants with team-based work systems, “high-commitment” HR practices (such as contingent compensation and extensive training), and low inventory and repair buffers consistently outperformed mass production plants. Variables capturing two-way and three-way interactions among the bundles of practices are even better predictors of performance, supporting the integration hypothesis.
A Re-Examination of the Relationship between Union Membership and Job Satisfaction
Authors: Gordon Michael E. , Denisi Angelo S.
Published: June 2015

Two seemingly contradictory findings reported in the recent industrial relations literature are that union members are less satisfied with their jobs than are nonmembers and yet are less inclined to leave their jobs. Because those results are based on several national probability samples, the authors argue that they may result from a sampling methodology that confounds union membership with working conditions. In this study, in contrast, which uses data from 1980 and 1986 on union members and nonmembers in three bargaining units in which union membership was not required, it is possible to control for working conditions when examining the effect of union membership on job satisfaction. The results across all three samples indicate no effect of union membership on either job satisfaction or the intent to quit.
The Determinants of NLRB Decision-Making Revisited
Authors: Cooke William N. , Mishra Aneil K. , Spreitzer Gretchen M. , Tschirhart Mary
Published: June 2015

The authors develop a model of NLRB decision-making that, unlike the models employed in previous studies, distinguishes between decision-making in more important, complex cases and less important, simpler cases. Using a representative sample of Board decisions over 1957–86, they find that in deciding the minority (20%) of disputes that were particularly important or complex, Board members were influenced by their personal preferences and those of Presidents who appointed them—a finding consistent with the results of previous studies. In the remaining cases (about 80%), however, Board members were influenced in their decisions by little more than the recommendations of regional offices and administrative law judges. Another finding that substantially modifies the conclusions of earlier studies is that Board members appear to have been highly influenced by their accountability to the public when deciding more important, complex cases.
Union Wage Concessions in the 1980s: The Importance of Firm-Specific Factors
Authors: Bell Linda A.
Published: June 2015

This paper evaluates the effects of firm performance and firm characteristics on concession outcomes over the years 1980–87. Across similar firms, the author finds, concessions were inversely related to stock price and employment growth. Concessions were also most likely in small firms, in firms paying high wages, and in firms with relatively low union coverage. The effect of firm performance and firm characteristics on the likelihood of concessions was uniform across concessions of differing severity and was stable in magnitude over the eight-year period.
Updated Notes on the Interindustry Wage Structure, 1890–1990
Authors: Allen Steven G.
Published: June 2015

The author documents and analyzes changes in wage structure across manufacturing industries over the years 1890–1990. Interindustry differentials in wages were highly stable over that period for production workers, but much less stable for nonproduction workers. Interindustry wage patterns were very similar for production and nonproduction workers in 1990, though this similarity dates back only to 1958. Although dispersion of wages across industries followed varying trends over the period, it was higher in 1990 than at any previous time in this century. The variables that have been most strongly correlated with wage growth are productivity growth, rising union density, rising capital intensity, and profit growth.
The Effects of Tastes and Motivation on Individual Income
Authors: Long James E.
Published: June 2015

The author examines the relationship between income and certain tastes and motivation factors using data from a national sample of individuals interviewed as college freshmen in 1971 and then surveyed nine years later. He finds that respondents' drive to achieve and the importance they attached to financial success were positively related to annual income. The extent to which raising a family was valued as a goal did not affect income, at least for full-time workers. The estimated income effects of these tastes and motivation factors vary by gender. For example, a strong desire for financial well-being enhanced income more for men than for women.
British Unions in Decline: Determinants of the 1980s Fall in Union Recognition
Authors: Disney Richard , Gosling Amanda , MacHin Stephen
Published: June 2015

This examination of establishment-level data from the Workplace Industrial Relations Surveys of 1980, 1984, and 1990 shows that the proportion of British establishments (that is, workplaces in both the private and public sector) that recognized unions for collective bargaining over pay and working conditions fell by almost 20% between 1980 and 1990. Largely accountable for this decline was a much lower rate of union recognition in establishments founded in the 1980s than in previous years, particularly in the private sector. Citing these findings, as well as recent structural changes in employment in the British labor market (such as the shift from manufacturing to services, from manual to non-manual employment, and from full-time to part-time work) and a government that continues to enact anti-union legislation, the authors foresee no reversal of unions' decline in the 1990s.
Explaining Black-White Wage Convergence, 1940–1950
Authors: Margo Robert A.
Published: June 2015

During the 1940s, racial differences in wages narrowed at an unusually rapid pace. Using a decomposition technique different from that of previous studies, the author shows that wage compression between and within groups—the so-called “Great Compression”—was a major factor behind racial wage convergence in the 1940s. In addition to wage compression, occupational shifts, internal migration, and diminishing racial differences in schooling helped to narrow the black-white wage gap between 1940 and 1950.
Following in Her Footsteps? Faculty Gender Composition and Women's Choices of College Majors
Authors: Canes Brandice J. , Rosen Harvey S.
Published: June 2015

Although it is widely supposed that a college's female undergraduate enrollment in the sciences and engineering can be increased by raising female representation on the faculties in those fields, that proposition has not been subjected to serious statistical analysis. The authors of this paper analyze panel data from three quite different educational institutions—Princeton University, the University of Michigan, and Whittier College—to examine the relationship between the gender composition of the students in an academic department and the gender composition of its faculty at the time the students were choosing their majors. They find no evidence that an increase in the share of women on a department's faculty led to an increase in its share of female majors.
Do Female Faculty Influence Female Students' Educational and Labor Market Attainments?
Authors: Rothstein Donna S.
Published: June 2015

This paper uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 to analyze whether the percentage of female faculty had an influence on female students' post-undergraduate educational and labor market outcomes. The results show a statistically significant positive association between the percentage of female faculty and the probability that female students would attain an advanced degree. Although the percentage of female faculty had no statistically significant direct effect on labor market earnings, having an advanced degree did have a large, positive impact on earnings.
Do Teachers' Race, Gender, and Ethnicity Matter? Evidence from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988
Authors: Ehrenberg Ronald G. , Goldhaber Daniel D. , Brewer Dominic J.
Published: June 2015

Using data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS), the authors find that the match between teachers' race, gender, and ethnicity and those of their students had little association with how much the students learned, but in several instances it seems to have been a significant determinant of teachers' subjective evaluations of their students. For example, test scores of white female students in mathematics and science did not increase more rapidly when the teacher was a white woman than when the teacher was a white man, but white female teachers evaluated their white female students more highly than did white male teachers.
National Union Effectiveness in Organizing: Measures and Influences
Authors: Fiorito Jack , Jarley Paul , Delaney John Thomas
Published: June 2015

The percentage of the U.S. work force that is unionized is at its lowest level in more than 50 years. Although many studies have sought the reasons for this decline, few have investigated characteristics of unions themselves as possible factors. This paper focuses on unions as organizations, and applies a model of national union effectiveness to union organizing. The authors propose a composite measure of organizing effectiveness that goes beyond union success in representation elections. An analysis of data from the 1990 National Union Survey and other sources, with controls for environmental influences, suggests that organizing effectiveness is enhanced by innovation and reduced by centralization of control at the national level. Some evidence is also found that internal union democracy enhances union success in organizing.
Collective Bargaining after Deregulation: Do the Teamsters Still Count?
Authors: Belzer Michael H.
Published: June 2015

Using data from the American Trucking Associations and a 1991 telephone survey of 223 major firms in the general freight segment of the trucking industry (SIC 4213), the author describes the restructuring of the trucking industry that occurred following economic deregulation that began in 1977 and examines how that restructuring affected industrial relations outcomes such as wages and union strength. He finds that both market concentration and competition increased after 1977. He also concludes that regulatory restructuring led the general freight industry to divide into two sectors, one handling full truckload shipments (shipments of 10,000 pounds or more) and one handling less-than-truckload shipments. The Teamsters Union lost bargaining power in the truckload sector, but it retained much of its bargaining power within the less-than-truckload sector.
The Labor Market Skills of Recent Male Immigrants: Evidence from the Current Population Survey
Authors: Funkhouser Edward , Trejo Stephen J.
Published: June 2015

Using data from special supplements to the Current Population Survey (CPS), the authors track the education and hourly earnings of recent male immigrants to the United States. In terms of these measures of labor market skills, the CPS data suggest that immigrants who came in the late 1980s were more skilled than those who arrived earlier in the decade. This pattern represents a break from the steady decline in immigrant skill levels observed in 1940–80 Census data. Despite the encouraging trend over the 1980s, however, the average skills of recent immigrants remain low by historical standards.
Union Effects on Nonunion Wages: Evidence from Panel Data on Industries and Cities
Authors: Neumark David , Wachter Michael L.
Published: June 2015

The authors test for threat and crowding effects of unions on non-union wages at the industry and city levels, using panel data on the percent organized and nonunion industry and city wage differentials constructed from Current Population Surveys over the period 1973–89. At the industry level, increases in the percent organized were associated with decreases in the nonunion industry wage differential, suggesting that crowding effects were the predominant union effect on nonunion industry wage differentials. In contrast, at the city level increases in the percent organized were associated with increases in the nonunion city wage differential, suggesting that threat effects predominated. The authors also find evidence of negative cross-occupation union effects on nonunion industry wage differentials, supporting their hypothesis that the industry-level results were partly driven by complementarity between union and nonunion labor.
Job Applicant Screening by a Japanese Transplant: A Union-Avoidance Tactic
Authors: Saltzman Gregory M.
Published: June 2015

The author examines efforts by managers of a Japanese-owned auto parts plant to avoid hiring union sympathizers in 1993–94. Data from confidential questionnaires in which job applicants stated whether they would vote for union representation in their current or most recent job were matched with outcome data provided by management. Pro-union applicants were much more likely than other applicants to withdraw their applications or quit shortly after being hired. The author finds only weak evidence, however, that management overtly favored antiunion job applicants in making job offers.
Levels of Responsibility in Jobs and the Distribution of Earnings among U.S. Engineers, 1961–1986
Authors: Ferrall Christopher
Published: June 2015

This study, using data from the Professional, Administrative, Technical, and Clerical Pay Survey and the Current Population Survey, examines how the assignment of responsibility within firms affected the structure of wages of U.S. engineers between 1961 and 1986. Patterns of wage dispersion in this sample mirrored patterns found in broader segments of the labor market during the same period. In engineering, wage dispersion within levels of responsibility fell steadily between 1976 and 1986, while wage dispersion between levels rose. At the same time, engineering jobs began to migrate to lower levels within firms. The author explains the trends in wages and job assignments as responses to changes in the supply of and demand for engineers, within the framework of hierarchy models of responsibility.
Collective Bargaining in Small Firms: Preliminary Evidence of Fundamental Change
Authors: Cutcher-Gershenfeld Joel , McHugh Patrick , Power Donald
Published: June 2015

This analysis of 481 negotiations in Michigan over the period 1987–91 suggests that fundamental changes may have occurred recently in collective bargaining in small firms. Only 33% of the negotiations conformed to the traditional model of arm's-length collective bargaining; the balance involved either highly contentious or highly cooperative relations. Further, in only one-sixth (17%) of the cases was the contract settled within one week before or after the contract expiration. Delays were more common and longer in negotiations in which settlements were implemented unilaterally by management over labor's objections than in cases involving strikes. Concessions figured prominently in the majority of the negotiations in the sample, with a shift from wage to benefit concessions occurring during the period examined.
The Response of Wages to Protective Labor Legislation: Evidence from Canada
Authors: Friesen Jane
Published: June 2015

Using micro data from the 1986–87 Canadian Labour Market Activity Survey, the author examines the wage effect of laws requiring advance notice of layoffs and in some cases also requiring severance payments to laid-off workers. The results suggest that incumbent workers protected by advance notice and severance pay laws were able to extract higher wages than were incumbent workers unprotected by such laws. There is evidence, however, that the ultimate wage effect differed by workers' union status: starting wages of nonunion workers appear to have fallen to offset the subsequent wage increase, indicating that nonunion workers may “pay for” advance notice and severance pay laws, whereas union workers who were protected by such laws seem to have been able to exploit their bargaining position to increase their lifetime earnings.
Information on Strikes and Union Settlements: Patterns of Coverage in a “Newspaper of Record”
Authors: Erickson Christopher L. , Mitchell Daniel J.B.
Published: June 2015

The authors investigate whether the New York Times' coverage of strikes and non-strike wage Settlements in large bargaining units changed during the 1980s, a time when a “transformation” of industrial relations is said to have taken place. Although the total number of New York Times articles on such events declined during the 1980s, the authors find that when appropriate control variables are included in the analysis, the apparent drop in coverage disappears. Important variables determining the extent of news coverage were occurrence of a strike, strike duration, number of workers involved, occurrence of federal intervention, key industry status (that is, whether the affected industry was among those industries identified as exceptionally important for wage-setting), and proximity to New York City. They speculate that the reduced number of articles may simply reflect a decreased incidence of strikes.
Determinants of Underemployment of Young Adults: A Multi-Country Study
Authors: Ruiz-Quintanilla S. Antonio , Claes Rita
Published: June 2015

This longitudinal analysis of interview data for the years 1988 and 1990 explores the determinants of three forms of underemployment among young adults: part-time employment, temporary employment, and unemployment. The authors look at two occupational groups (office technology workers and machine Operators) across six European countries (Belgium, England, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands). Factors that affected patterns of underemployment were education, occupational group, initial labor market experience, perceptions of the labor market (interviewees' view of labor market conditions), and organizational socialization practices (the strategies employers took to integrate the young workers into their first jobs). Organizational and societal factors appear to have had greater influence than behavioral variables such as job search strategies and demographic variables such as gender and age. Unemployment and temporary work had many determinants in common; part-time work, in contrast, was affected only by initial labor market experience and organizational socialization practices.
Black/White Wage Convergence: The Role of Public Sector Wages and Employment
Authors: Carrington William J. , McCue Kristin , Pierce Brooks
Published: June 2015

This paper assesses the relative contribution of the public and private sectors, through their employment and wages, to the black/white wage convergence that occurred in the U.S. economy over the 1963–92 period. Applying standard decomposition methods to Current Population Survey data, the authors show that almost all the convergence in black/white relative wages in the 1963–75 period was due to black/white convergence in the private sector. Similarly, the post-1975 slowdown in black/white wage convergence was almost completely due to a corresponding slowdown in the private sector. The unimportance of the public sector, the authors argue, arises for two reasons: the public sector never accounted for more than 20% of civilian employment over the 1963–92 period; and blacks' historic success in that sector left relatively little room for further wage gains there, whereas in the private sector blacks had considerable ground to make up.
Gender Integration of Occupations in the Federal Civil Service: Extent and Effects on Male-Female Earnings
Authors: Lewis Gregory B.
Published: June 2015

Using the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's Central Personnel Data File, the author shows that from 1976 through 1992 gender integration of occupations proceeded more rapidly and steadily in the federal civil service than in the general economy. During that period, increasing numbers of women moved into traditionally male occupations, especially in professional and administrative work. Little of that progress, the author finds, was attributable to changes in women's education or seniority. Although average grades (indicating levels of responsibility) in male-dominated occupations declined as women entered them, gender integration of occupations helped to narrow male-female pay disparities in the federal service more than in the general economy.
A Re-Interpretation of Pattern Bargaining
Authors: Erickson Christopher L.
Published: June 2015

Most recent studies investigating pattern bargaining have sought to establish its presence or absence by statistically comparing summary measures of wage levels or growth rates across and within industries. The author of this study argues that a better measure of the existence of pattern bargaining over wages is the degree of similarity of collective bargaining contract clauses—the usual focus of negotiators when they engage in pattern-following. Using that criterion, he analyzes UAW and IAM collective bargaining agreements in the automobile, aerospace, and agricultural implement industries for the years 1970–95. He finds evidence that a strong wage pattern existed at both the inter- and intra-industry levels in the 1970s, but that this pattern weakened in the 1980s. Among the major automobile industry bargaining pairs, however, a strong intra-industry pattern returned in the late 1980s.
A Review of the Recent Empirical Literature on Displaced Workers
Authors: Fallick Bruce C.
Published: June 2015

This article reviews the empirical literature on job displacement. Job displacement is widespread and strongly countercyclical (tending to peak during economic downturns), but concentrated in industries and states that are doing poorly, relative either to other industries and states or to their own prior performance. Displaced workers experience more nonemployment than do nondisplaced workers, but the difference fades after about four years. In contrast, earnings losses of displaced workers are large and persistent. Outcomes for all displaced workers are heavily influenced by broader economic conditions, and are affected very little by workers' demographic characteristics. The effects of advance notice are not yet clear.
Job Creation and Job Destruction in Great Britain in the 1980s
Authors: Blanchflower David G. , Burgess Simon M.
Published: June 2015

Using data from the Workplace Industrial Relations Surveys of 1980, 1984, and 1990, the authors investigate processes of job creation and job destruction in Britain. They find that rates of employment growth, job creation, and job destruction were higher at the end of the 1980s than at the beginning. Both job creation and job destruction were extremely concentrated: about 50% of each was accounted for by just 4% of continuing establishments. Employment growth was apparently more variable in manufacturing plants than in private service sector workplaces. Some variables negatively related to employment growth were unionization, establishment size, establishment age, and location in the private manufacturing sector (versus private service sector).
Commitment, Quits, and Work Organization in Japanese and U.S. Plants
Authors: Lincoln James R. , Kalleberg Arne L.
Published: June 2015

This comparative analysis, using early 1980s data from management interviews, employee questionnaire surveys, and personnel office employment records in 41 manufacturing plants in Japan and 45 in the United States, explores how employee commitment to the firm is shaped by organizational structure, employment practice, and other attributes of factories. The authors investigate both behavioral and attitudinal dimensions of commitment, measured respectively by quit records and survey responses. The results for both dimensions generally support the model of “welfare corporatism” as a commitment-maximizing organizational form in Japanese and American industrial capitalism. Qualifying that conclusion, however, are several noteworthy differences between the countries: unionization, formal work rules, and on-the-job training, for example, appear to have negative effects on the commitment of U.S. workers that are absent in Japan.
The Effect of Government-Mandated Benefits on Youth Employment
Authors: Kaestner Robert
Published: June 2015

The author empirically examines the effect on youth employment of government-mandated employer-provided benefits. In particular, he investigates the effect of unemployment compensation insurance taxes and workers' compensation insurance mandates on the employment of youths (aged 16–19) and young adults (aged 20–24 and 25–34). An analysis of time series state aggregate data for the years 1982–89 indicates that a one percentage point increase in the employer's cost of workers' compensation insurance reduced employment for both teenagers and young adults by about 1.5 percentage points. Unemployment insurance taxes significantly decreased the employment of teenagers, but not that of young adults.
The Influence of Work History Factors on Arbitration Outcomes
Authors: Simpson Patricia A. , Martocchio Joseph J.
Published: June 2015

This simulation study examines how work history factors affect arbitrators' decisions in absenteeism discharge cases. The authors analyze the responses of 179 arbitrators to survey questions concerning 32 hypothetical absence discharge cases in which four work history factors were systematically varied. Work history factors and due process considerations both are found to have influenced arbitral awards. Due process considerations (the degree to which management followed prescribed procedures) had the strongest impact, followed by previous absence history, prior disciplinary record, job performance, and seniority. The authors conclude that rehabilitative themes were prominent in these arbitrators' decision making. Other significant influences were the arbitrator's educational background, age, and experience.
A Puzzling Aspect of the Effect of Advance Notice on Unemployment
Authors: Addison John T. , Blackburn McKinley L.
Published: June 2015

Displaced workers with generous periods of advance notice are more likely than their non-notified counterparts to avoid post-displacement unemployment altogether, but once unemployed, they tend to escape from unemployment much more slowly. The authors, using data from the five-year retrospective 1988 and 1990 Displaced Worker Surveys, examine three potential explanations for this puzzle: delaying behavior induced by the receipt of unemployment insurance, nonrandom distribution of notice to workers, and previous studies' failure to appropriately incorporate the pre-displacement search time of notified workers. This analysis supports the third explanation. After allowing for less intense search prior to displacement than following displacement, the authors find that the pattern of escape rates for otherwise observationally equivalent workers does not differ by notification status.
The Attitudinal Legacy of Communist Labor Relations
Authors: Blanchflower David G. , Freeman Richard B.
Published: June 2015

This study of workers' attitudes compares data from International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) surveys for former communist countries in Europe with ISSP data for Western countries over the period 1987–93, which covers the beginning of the transition to a market economy for the former communist countries. Consistent with their hypothesis that communist-run economies left an attitudinal “legacy,” the authors find that the citizens of former communist countries evinced a greater desire for egalitarianism, less satisfaction with their Jobs, and more support for strong trade unions and state intervention in the Job market and economy than did Westerners. Over the course of the period studied, however, residents of the former communist European countries perceived sizable increases in occupational earnings differentials, and they adjusted their views of the differentials that “ought to#x201D; exist in their economies in the direction of greater inequality.
Explaining the Racial Unemployment Gap: Race, Region, and the Employment Status of Men, 1940
Authors: Sundstrom William A.
Published: June 2015

Although the substantial and persistent gap between the unemployment rates of African-Americans and whites in the United States first emerged in aggregate statistics covering the 1940s and 1950s, disaggregation reveals that the gap already existed in urban areas before 1940. Using individual-level data on male workers from the 1940 Census, the author analyzes the causes of the unemployment gap. He finds that racial differences in measured human capital and other characteristics can explain all of the racial gap in the South but less than half of the gap in the North. This result contrasts with results from studies of wages, which have found a larger racial residual in the South than in the North.
The Effect of Unions on the Receipt of Unemployment Insurance Benefits
Authors: Budd John W. , McCall Brian P.
Published: June 2015

Using National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data for 1979–91, the authors analyze the effect of union representation on the likelihood that individuals eligible for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits actually received those benefits. They find that unions had no statistically significant effect on the probability of benefit receipt among white-collar workers, but among eligible blue-collar workers, those who were laid off from union jobs were roughly 23% more likely than comparable nonunion workers to receive UI benefits. Although the analysis does not identify the reasons for this difference, two factors it appears to rule out as determinants are union-negotiated supplemental unemployment benefit plans and differences between union and nonunion workers in expected unemployment duration.
More Bad News for Smokers? The Effects of Cigarette Smoking on Wages
Authors: Levine Phillip B. , Gustafson Tara A. , Velenchik Ann D.
Published: June 2015

Using National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data, the authors examine the effect of smoking on wages. Their analysis controls for differences in individual charaeteristics that may be correlated with both smoking and wages, including unobservable person-specific characteristics that are constant over time, and unobservable characteristics that are constant within a family. Estimates from alternative specifications indicate that smoking reduced wages by roughly 4–8%. Empirical tests of three potential explanations for this finding yield no conclusive results.
Diverging Male Wage Inequality in the United States and Ganada, 1981–1988: Do Institutions Explain the Difference?
Authors: Dinardo John , Lemieux Thomas
Published: June 2015

The U.S. and Canadian economies have much in common, including similar collective bargaining structures. During the period 1981–88, however, although both countries witnessed a decline in the percentage of workers belonging to unions and an increase in hourly wage inequality, those changes were much more pronounced in the United States than in Canada. Using data on men in Canada and the United States in 1981 and 1988 (from the Labour Force Survey and supplements to the Current Population Survey), the authors study the effect of labor market institutions on changes in wage inequality by computing simple counterfactuals such as the distribution of wages that would prevail if all workers were paid according to the observed nonunion wage schedule. Their results suggest that much more severe declines in the unionization rate in the United States than in Canada account for two-thirds of the differential growth in wage inequality between the two countries.
Do Unions Reduce Investment? Evidence from Canada
Authors: Odgers Cameron W. , Betts Julian R.
Published: June 2015

The authors test for a link between unionization and net investment rates in Canadian manufacturing. Analysis of data on 18 industries for the years 1967–87 reveals a negative non-linear relationship: the presence of unions appears to have reduced investment when the percentage of firms in the industry that were unionized was between 0% and approximately 50%, with a plateau or slight positive marginal effect above this level. In an industry moving from no unions to the mean level of unionization, net investment and gross investment are predicted to fall by 66–74% and 18–25%, respectively.
Hybrids or Hodgepodges? Workplace Practices of Japanese and Domestic Startups in the United States
Authors: Doeringer Peter B. , Evans-Klock Christine , Terkla David G.
Published: June 2015

This study examines the adoption of high-performance workplace management practices in Japanese and domestic manufacturing plants, spanning a broad range of products and technologies, that began operations in the United States between 1978 and 1988. Japanese transplants, the authors find, were likely to adopt “hybrid” systems of high-performance practices melding Japanese principles of workplace management with the American industrial relations system. Domestic startups incorporated many of these same techniques, but they tended to take a more limited and piecemeal approach. The managers of domestic startups also paid less attention to how individual high-performance practices fit into an overall system of efficient workplace management than did managers at Japanese transplants.
Institutional Change in Shopfloor Governance and the Trajectory of Postwar Injury Rates in U.S. Manufacturing, 1946–1970
Authors: Fairris David
Published: June 2015

Manufacturing injury rates followed a U-shaped pattern over the 1946–70 period, falling for roughly the first fifteen years after World War II and then rising by an almost equal amount in the following decade. Rapid economic growth, changing demographics of the manufacturing labor force, and technological changes in production cannot account for the rising injury rates during the 1960s. Basing his analysis on a variety of sources, the author of this paper argues, instead, that the rise in injury rates reflects institutional changes in the system of shopfloor governance during the late 1950s that reduced the power of workers to influence shopfloor conditions.
Tradeoffs among Expressions of Industrial Conflict: Public Sector Strike Bans and Grievance Arbitrations
Authors: Hebdon Robert P. , Stern Robert N.
Published: June 2015

This examination of industrial conflict in over 9,000 bargaining units in Ontario, Canada, in 1988 yields robust cross-sectional evidence of a trade-off between legal strike bans and forms of industrial conflict other than strikes. Within Ontario's health care and provincial government services sectors, the incidence of grievance arbitrations, especially those concerning economic issues, was significantly higher where striking was prohibited than where it was permitted. The authors argue that researchers and policy makers should be aware that there may be unanticipated changes in expressions of industrial conflict when legal changes restrict specific actions such as strikes. In particular, research and policy models of industrial conflict should be specified to include more than one form of conflict expression at a time.
The Impact of Health on Job Mobility: A Measure of Job Lock
Authors: Kapur Kanika
Published: June 2015

The author analyzes data from the National Medical Expenditure Survey of 1987 to measure the importance of “job lock”—the reduction in job mobility due to the non-portability of employer-provided health insurance. Refining the approach commonly used by other researchers investigating the same question, the author finds insignificant estimates of job lock; moreover, the confidence intervals of these estimates exclude large levels of job lock. A replication of an influential previous study that used the same data source shows large and significant job lock, as did that study, but when methodological problems are corrected and improved data are used to construct the job lock variables, job lock is found to be small and statistically insignificant.
Markets for Communist Human Capital: Returns to Education and Experience in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
Authors: Chase Robert S.
Published: June 2015

This research examines how the earnings structure in the Czech Republic and Slovakia changed after the collapse of those countries' Communist governments. Tests of four similar micro-data sets show that returns to education rose significantly with the transition to non-Communist governments. For example, returns to education rose from 2.4% to 5.2% for Czech men between 1984 and 1993. Though women had, in general, higher returns to education than men did, returns for men increased more with the regime change. Among both sexes, those with academic secondary education experienced particularly large earnings increases. Returns to experience, on the other hand, fell. Earnings structure changes appear to have been larger in the Czech Republic than in Slovakia, probably because transition occurred more rapidly and deeply in the former.
Labor Market Assimilation of Immigrant Women
Authors: Schoeni Robert F.
Published: June 2015

Using 1970, 1980, and 1990 U.S. census data, the author examines the life-cycle patterns of immigrant women's labor force participation. He finds that the cross-sectional approach that has been used in all previous studies leads to a substantial over-estimate of the degree to which immigrant women's assimilation increases their labor force participation. The effect of assimilation found by using the cohort approach, however (which acknowledges the possibility that patterns of labor force participation partly reflect the year of immigration), is still sizable. The effect is concentrated within the first 10 years after arrival. There are substantial differences in participation and assimilation by country of birth. Immigrants from Japan, Korea, and China are found to have experienced the greatest degree of assimilation, with an effect that raises the probability of working by 20 percentage points during the first 10 years after arriving in the United States.
Inter- and Intra-Ethnic Comparisons of the Central City-Suburban Youth Employment Differential: Evidence from the Oakland Metropolitan Area
Authors: Raphael Steven
Published: June 2015

This analysis of data from the 5% Census Public Use Microdata Sample shows that residence in a low-employment growth area had a strong negative effect on both the probability of being employed and the probability of being active (defined as being either employed or in school) among youths in the Oakland Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area in 1990. The large adverse employment effect is found even with extensive controls for personal and family background characteristics. Area of residence affected employment and activity outcomes differently for youths of different racial and ethnic groups. Notably, even within the high—employment growth suburban area studied, black youths had significantly lower employment and activity rates than white, Asian, and Hispanic youths. Citing evidence of racial segregation within this suburban area, the author argues that a central city/suburban dichotomy may not adequately measure spatial proximity to employment opportunities.
Can Strategic Participation Be Institutionalized? Union Representation on American Corporate Boards
Authors: Hunter Larry W.
Published: June 2015

This paper, drawing on interviews conducted in 1989 and 1990 with directors nominated by unions to American corporate boards of directors, shows that union choices in the establishment of board representation in the 1980s reflected union strategy and structure. Those choices, in turn, established conditions that affected the ways in which representation influenced governance. The institutional environment strongly militated against the emergence of interest representation in the boardroom; only an unusual constellation of choices was likely to lead to such pluralist deliberation. The strategic choices of unions were more likely to leave undisturbed the board's traditional function as a vehicle for overseeing shareholders' investment. The effectiveness of the oversight depended further on unions' choices in the establishment of board representation plans, selection of directors, and level of support for directors.
The Effects of Sexual Harassment on Job Satisfaction, Earnings, and Turnover among Female Lawyers
Authors: Laband David N. , Lentz Bernard F.
Published: June 2015

Using data from the American Bar Association's National Survey of Career Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction (1990), the authors estimate the incidence and impact of sexual harassment in the legal profession. Nearly two-thirds of female lawyers in private practice and nearly half of those in corporate or public agency settings reported either experiencing or observing sexual harassment by male superiors, colleagues, or clients during the two years prior to the survey. Female lawyers who had experienced or observed sexual harassment by male superiors or colleagues reported lower overall job satisfaction than did those who had not, as well as a greater intention to quit. The authors speculate that employers and coworkers may sometimes be able to sexually harass female employees in ways or degrees that are not sanctionable but that induce the victims to quit.

Sexual harassment may contribute to an undetermined extent to many aspects of women's employment experience, including absenteeism, turnover, productivity rates and work motivation, job dissatisfaction, and unemployment.

—MacKinnon, Sexual Harassment of Working Women
Employee Involvement and Organizational Citizenship: Implications for Labor Law Reform and “Lean Production#x201D;
Authors: Cappelli Peter , Rogovsky Nikolai
Published: June 2015

Using data from surveys of employees and their supervisors in eight companies in 1992, the authors examine how each of two forms of employee involvement affected an important dimension of individual performance, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), defined as individual discretionary behavior that promotes the organization and is not explicitly rewarded. Involvement in work organization increased OCB both indirectly, by changing the job characteristics of individual tasks, and directly, independent of such changes. In contrast, involvement in decisions governing employment practices had only small indirect effects on OCB and no direct effect. These results inform the contemporary debate in labor law concerning the appropriate scope for employee involvement plans as well as the debate about the mechanism through which new production systems affect employee performance.