January 2025
10Jan

Collective Bargaining, Unions, and the Wage Structure: An International Perspective

By Simon Jäger, Suresh Naidu & Benjamin Schoefer In this paper, we assess the recent economics literature on collective bargaining. Despite a declining trend in the OECD in coverage and especially union membership, a large share of formal workers around the world are still covered by collective bargaining agreements. We describe the substantial institutional variation across a variety of countries, highlighting research done with modern research designs and recently available administrative datasets. We then estimate a canonical empirical model of individual-level coverage effects...

January 10, 2025
Articles, Labor Market, , ,
Read more...

December 2024
13Dec

Do Pensions Enhance Worker Effort and Selection? Evidence from Public Schools

By Michael Bates & Andrew C. Johnston Why do employers offer pensions? We empirically examine two theoretical rationales, namely that pensions improve worker effort and worker selection. We test these hypotheses using rich administrative measures on effort and output for teachers around the pension-eligibility notch. When workers cross the notch, their effective compensation falls by roughly 50 percent of salary, but we observe no reduction in worker effort or output. This implies that pension payments do not increase effort. As for selection, we find...

December 13, 2024
Articles, Labor Market, ,
Read more...

November 2024
29Nov

Brazil: Employment & Benefits – 2024 Highlights and 2025 Outlook

By Aline Fidelis This year has brought several significant updates to Brazilian labor law, with key changes focusing on equal pay, digital communication requirements, and debate over the regulation of platform work. These developments highlight the increasing emphasis on gender equality, workplace mental health, and the evolving nature of work in the gig economy. This article outlines the key highlights from 2024 and looks ahead to 2025. Get the report here

November 29, 2024
Books, Books, Labor Market, Reports, , , ,
Read more...
22Nov

Financial Inclusion and Wellbeing

By Abigail Hiller The researchers then use their index to analyze the extent of financial exclusion across the US as well as its effects on households. They find that households in areas with greater financial inclusion tend to have higher incomes and are more likely to own homes and possess real estate wealth. Greater financial inclusion is associated with a higher probability of creating an estate, building intergenerational wealth, and breaking the poverty cycle among married individuals and those with...

November 22, 2024
Articles, Labor Market, ,
Read more...
22Nov

Do Pensions Enhance Worker Effort and Selection? Evidence from Public Schools

By Michael Bates & Andrew C. Johnston Why do employers offer pensions? We empirically examine two theoretical rationales, namely that pensions improve worker effort and worker selection. We test these hypotheses using rich administrative measures on effort and output for teachers around the pension-eligibility notch. When workers cross the notch, their effective compensation falls by roughly 50 percent of salary, but we observe no reduction in worker effort or output. This implies that pension payments do not increase effort. As for selection, we find...

November 22, 2024
Articles, Labor Market, ,
Read more...
15Nov

Can Flexible Jobs Drive the Future of Work? Lessons from MENA

By Carole Chartouni, Khalid Moheyddeen, Ramy Zeid, Rada Naji & Montserrat Pallares-Miralles The evolving nature of work is prompting a global shift towards more adaptable and flexible employment practices. Work is no longer only a place you go to for a 9 to 5 job – it is transforming into a dynamic concept as an ever-growing number of people are gravitating towards flexible employment models, often referred to as non-standard forms of employment (NSEs). Growing evidence shows that as people increasingly value...

November 15, 2024
Articles, Labor Market, , , ,
Read more...
08Nov

Journal of Labor Economics

By Peter Kuhn This is volume 42 issue 4 of Journal of Labor Economics. Founded in 1983 as the first journal devoted specifically to labor economics, the Journal of Labor Economics (JOLE) presents international research on issues affecting social and private behavior, and the economy. JOLE’s contributors investigate various aspects of labor economics, including supply and demand of labor services, personnel economics, distribution of income, unions and collective bargaining, applied and policy issues in labor economics, and labor markets and...

November 8, 2024
Books, Books, Labor Market, Reports, , , ,
Read more...
08Nov

Forever young: where older workers keep on working

By Steven G. Allen & Ting Wang This paper examines inter-industry patterns of the employment of older workers over the last 20 years to understand where employment opportunities have grown the most. The underlying premise is that firms strategically align their age mix depending on production function and labor cost parameters. The industries that had the largest increases in the percentage of older workers were those that had the broadest pension coverage and those that made the greatest use of high-tech capital. There...

November 8, 2024
Articles, Labor Market, , ,
Read more...

October 2024
25Oct

Beyond Informal Employment: Stagnation and Disguised Employment in Brazil

By Carolina Troncoso Baltar, Esther Dweck, Marilia Marcato & Camila Unis Krepsky This study analyses the Brazilian labour market from 2014 to 2019, focusing on the impact of the country's growth pattern on rising informal and self-employment. After a period of economic growth, Brazil faced a recession (2015-2016) and stagnation (2016-2019). Austerity-driven reforms were implemented, weakening policies aimed at stimulating growth, reducing unemployment, and improving formalization. Using structural decomposition analysis within a demand-driven input-output model, the study examines how changes in demand...

October 25, 2024
Articles, Labor Market, , ,
Read more...
11Oct

Statistics on the informal economy

By International Labour Organization In many countries, the informal economy represents a significant part of the labour market and plays a major role in production, employment creation and income generation. However, informality puts workers at a higher risk of vulnerability and precariousness. It has a strong adverse impact on the adequacy of earnings, occupational safety and health and working conditions in general. Informality remains a key concern of the Decent Work Agenda and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the informality rate is part of...

October 11, 2024
Books, Books, Labor Market, Reports
Read more...