scholarly journals Contingent High-Skilled Work and Flexible Labor Markets. Creative Workers and Independent Contractors Cycling Between Employment and Unemployment

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre-Michel Menger
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Labor Markets ◽  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Independent Contractors ◽  
Employment System ◽  
Flexible Labor ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
Highly Skilled ◽  
Creative Workers

Abstract Flexibility in highly skilled jobs combines the characteristics of the secondary and the professional labor market, which oblige to revise the separation between salaried work and self-employment. Two cases are studied: the employment system of artists and technical workers in the performing arts and the work of independent contractors mediated by umbrella firms. An analysis of the French labor market shows how “flexicurity” may work, but also how its books may get unbalanced, as employers learn to make strategic use of unemployment insurance.

Conclusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 161-164
Author(s):  
Eric A. Posner
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Labor Markets ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Independent Contractors ◽  
Gig Economy ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Social ◽  
Market Fragmentation ◽  
Social Surplus

Many people are worried about the fragmentation of labor markets, as firms replace employees with independent contractors. Another common worry is that low-skill work, and ultimately nearly all forms of work, will be replaced by robots as artificial intelligence advances. Labor market fragmentation is not a new phenomenon and can be addressed with stronger classification laws supplemented by antitrust enforcement. In fact, the gig economy has many attractive elements, and there is no reason to fear it as long as existing laws are enforced. Over the long run, artificial intelligence may replace much of the work currently performed by human beings. If it does, the appropriate response is not antitrust or employment regulation but policy that ensures the social surplus is fairly divided.

Labor Rationing

2021 ◽  
Vol 111 (10) ◽  
pp. 3184-3224
Author(s):  
Emily Breza ◽  
Supreet Kaur ◽  
Yogita Shamdasani
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Labor Supply ◽  
Labor Markets ◽  
Labor Force ◽  
Market Analysis ◽  
Local Labor Markets ◽  
Self Employment

This paper measures excess labor supply in equilibrium. We induce hiring shocks—which employ 24 percent of the labor force in external month-long jobs—in Indian local labor markets. In peak months, wages increase instantaneously and local aggregate employment declines. In lean months, consistent with severe labor rationing, wages and aggregate employment are unchanged, with positive employment spillovers on remaining workers, indicating that over a quarter of labor supply is rationed. At least 24 percent of lean self-employment among casual workers occurs because they cannot find jobs. Consequently, traditional survey approaches mismeasure labor market slack. Rationing has broad implications for labor market analysis. (JEL E24, J22, J23, J31, J64, O15, R23)

How Antitrust Failed Workers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric A. Posner
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Labor Markets ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Employment Practices ◽  
Independent Contractors ◽  
Legislative Reform ◽  
Covenants Not To Compete ◽  
The Impact

Antitrust law has very rarely been used by workers to challenge anticompetitive employment practices. Yet recent empirical research shows that labor markets are highly concentrated, and that employers engage in practices that harm competition and suppress wages. These practices include no-poaching agreements, wage-fixing, mergers, covenants not to compete, and misclassification of gig workers as independent contractors. This failure of antitrust to challenge labor-market misbehavior is due to a range of other failures—intellectual, political, moral, and economic. And the impact of this failure has been profound for wage levels, economic growth, and inequality. In light of the recent empirical work, it is urgent for regulators, courts, lawyers, and Congress to redirect antitrust resources to labor market problems. This book offers a strategy for judicial and legislative reform.

scholarly journals Labor Market Rigidity, Unemployment, and the Great Recession

2011 ◽  
pp. 1-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Murat Tasci ◽  
Mary Zenker
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Labor Markets ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Flexible Labor ◽  
Labor Market Policies ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Term Performance ◽  
The U.S

Countries with very flexible institutions and labor market polices, like the U.S., experienced substantial increases in unemployment over the course of the Great Recession, while countries with relatively rigid institutions and strict labor market policies, such as France, fared better. However, this better short-term performance comes with a tradeoff: evidence suggests that flexible labor markets keep unemployment lower in the long run.

scholarly journals Segmented Labor Market Models in Developing Countries

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary S. Fields
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Labor Markets ◽  
Market Segmentation ◽  
Market Segments ◽  
Market Models ◽  
Labor Market Segmentation ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
Labor Market Policies ◽  
Salaried Employment ◽  
Segmented Labor Market

This article is about labor-market models. Its aim is to construct models that are as simple as they can be but as complicated as they need to be. Such models, if carefully done, can contribute to an understanding of observed labor market phenomena and to the formulation of sound labor market policies. Some branches of economics work with models that assume that everybody who works participates in a single, undifferentiated labor market. This article regards such models as grossly unrealistic. The notion of labor market segmentation can be stylized most simply by maintaining that there are two labor market segments. In this article, labor markets should be thought of as consisting not only of wage and salaried employment but also of self-employment. All who work or seek to work in labor markets are termed workers.

scholarly journals Implications of Labor Market Frictions for Risk Aversion and Risk Premia

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 194-240
Author(s):  
Eric T. Swanson
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Risk Aversion ◽  
Labor Markets ◽  
The United States ◽  
Risk Premia ◽  
Market Frictions ◽  
Flexible Labor ◽  
Asset Value ◽  
Labor Market Frictions ◽  
Frictional Labor Markets

A flexible labor margin allows households to absorb asset value shocks with changes in hours worked, altering the households’ attitudes toward risk (Swanson 2012). This paper analyzes how frictional labor markets affect that analysis. Risk aversion is higher (i) in countries with more frictional labor markets, (ii ) in recessions, and (iii ) for households that have more difficulty finding a job. Labor market frictions in Europe are large enough to raise risk aversion in those countries. Nevertheless, risk aversion in the United States and Europe is much closer to the frictionless benchmark in Swanson (2012) than to traditional, fixed-labor measures. (JEL D11, D81, E24, E32, J22)

Movilidad laboral geográfica en un antiguo enclave minero. La inversión de un mercado de trabajo local

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
Author(s):  
Camilo Contreras Delgado
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Labor Markets ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Labor Mobility ◽  
Work Place ◽  
Local Labor Markets ◽  
Local Labor Market ◽  
Local Factors ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

Resumen:Este artículo examina los fa c t o res internos y externos a una localidad que son copartícipes en la estructuración y reestructuración de su mercado de trabajo local. A partir de la revisión de la historia social y económica del lugar, se destaca su tránsito de enclave minero a lugar de residencia de mineros y trabajadores de maquiladoras. En este caso, se presenta la constitución de los mercados de trabajo locales como un resultado del encuentro de las condiciones del lugar de residencia de los trabajadores y el lugar donde se encuentra el centro de trabajo. De aquí que la movilidad laboral geográfica aparezca como una de las tácticas de los sujetos ante una situación de desempleo.Palabras clave: Mercado de trabajo, Minería, Maquiladoras, Mineros, Movilidad laboral, Desempleo.Abstract:This article examines the internal and external local factors shaping the structuring and restructuring of a local labor market. By reviewing the social and economic history of the community, this article underlines its transition from a mining setting to a residence place for miners and maquila workers. In this case, the constitution of local labor markets is presented as a result of the condition encounter of both workers residence place and the location of the work place. This is a reason explaining why geographical labor mobility comes to be an actor tactic to face unemployment.Key words: Labor market, Mining, Export-oriented industry, Miners, Labor mobility, Unemployment.

scholarly journals Self-employment as a stepping stone to better labor market matching: a comparison between immigrants and natives

2020 ◽  
Vol 86 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-501
Author(s):  
Magdalena Ulceluse
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Labour Force Survey ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
Barriers To Employment ◽  
Labor Market Matching ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThe paper investigates the relation between overeducation and self-employment, in a comparative analysis between immigrants and natives. Using the EU Labour Force Survey for the year 2012 and controlling for a list of demographic characteristics and general characteristics of 30 destination countries, it finds that the likelihood of being overeducated decreases for self-employed immigrants, with inconclusive results for self-employed natives. The results shed light on the extent to which immigrants adjust to labor market imperfections and barriers to employment and might help explain the higher incidence of self-employment that immigrants exhibit, when compared to natives. This is the first study to systematically study the nexus between overeducation and self-employment in a comparative framework. Moreover, the paper tests the robustness of the results by employing two different measures of overeducation, contributing to the literature of the measurement of overeducation.

Labor Market Concentration and Worker Contributions to Health Insurance Premiums

2021 ◽  
pp. 107755872110129
Author(s):  
Mark K. Meiselbach ◽  
Matthew D. Eisenberg ◽  
Ge Bai ◽  
Aditi Sen ◽  
Gerard F. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Health Insurance ◽  
Labor Markets ◽  
Health Plan ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Health Benefits ◽  
Market Concentration ◽  
Medical Expenditure ◽  
Insurance Premiums ◽  
Health Insurance Premiums

In concentrated labor markets, where workers have fewer employers to choose from, employers may exploit their monopsony power by contributing less to workers’ health benefits. This study examined if labor market concentration was associated with higher worker contributions to health plan premiums. We combined publicly available data from the Census to calculate labor market concentration and the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Insurance/Employer Component to determine premium contributions from 2010 to 2016 for metropolitan areas. After controlling for year fixed-effects and market characteristics, we found that higher labor market concentration was associated with higher worker contributions to health plan premiums, lower take-home income, and no change in employer contributions to premiums, consistent with the hypothesis that greater labor market concentration is associated with less generous health benefits. When evaluating the effects of mergers and acquisitions on labor markets, regulatory agencies should critically assess worker contributions to health insurance premiums.

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