scholarly journals Diverging by Gender: Syrian Refugees’ Divisions of Labor and Formation of Human Capital in the United States

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heba Gowayed
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Opportunity To Learn ◽  
The United States ◽  
Full Time ◽  
English Classes ◽  
Refugee Families ◽  
Refugee Men

In this article, I examine how Syrian refugee men and women shifted their household divisions of labor in their initial years of resettlement in the United States. I combine and extend relational approaches from gender theory and economic sociology to examine how men’s and women’s behaviors shifted, the resources engendered by behavioral shifts, and how they interpreted and compensated for new behaviors and resources. I show that shifts in Syrian household divisions of labor occurred at the intersection of inequalities in social policies, labor markets, and households. As a result of limited social assistance, the refugee families needed to earn an income within months of their arrival. The Syrian men entered the labor market, in keeping with a breadwinning expectation for their labor, but could only access menial jobs that limited their time and opportunity to learn English. Women, meanwhile, did not enter the labor market full-time and could attend English classes. By observing this divergence in men’s and women’s language learning, I theorize human capital as a gendered outcome of household divisions of labor.

scholarly journals Diverging by Gender: Syrian Refugees’ Divisions of Labor and Formation of Human Capital in the United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heba Gowayed
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Opportunity To Learn ◽  
The United States ◽  
Full Time ◽  
English Classes ◽  
Refugee Families ◽  
Refugee Men

In this article, I examine how Syrian refugee men and women shifted their household divisions of labor in their initial years of resettlement in the United States. I combine and extend relational approaches from gender theory and economic sociology to examine how men’s and women’s behaviors shifted, the resources engendered by behavioral shifts, and how they interpreted and compensated for new behaviors and resources. I show that shifts in Syrian household divisions of labor occurred at the intersection of inequalities in social policies, labor markets, and households. As a result of limited social assistance, the refugee families needed to earn an income within months of their arrival. The Syrian men entered the labor market, in keeping with a breadwinning expectation for their labor, but could only access menial jobs that limited their time and opportunity to learn English. Women, meanwhile, did not enter the labor market full-time and could attend English classes. By observing this divergence in men’s and women’s language learning, I theorize human capital as a gendered outcome of household divisions of labor.

Raciolinguistic ideology and Spanish-English bilingualism on the US labor market: An analysis of online job advertisements

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 477-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Close Subtirelu
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Market Value ◽  
The United States ◽  
Assigned Value ◽  
The Us ◽  
Job Advertisements ◽  
United States Labor Market

AbstractMultilingualism is often framed as human capital that increases individuals’ labor market value. Such assertions overlook the role of ideology in assigning value to languages and their speakers based on factors other than communicative utility. This article explores the value assigned to Spanish-English bilingualism on the United States labor market through a mixed methods analysis of online job advertisements. Findings suggest that Spanish-English bilingualism is frequently preferred or required for employment in the US, but that such employment opportunities are less lucrative. The results suggest a penalty associated with Spanish-English bilingualism in which positions listing such language requirements advertise lower wages than observationally similar positions. Quantitative disparities and qualitative differences in the specification of language requirements across income levels suggest that bilingual labor is assigned value through a racial lens that leads to linguistic work undertaken by and for US Latinxs being assigned less value. (Multilingualism, labor market, Spanish in the United States, economics of language, raciolinguistics, human capital)*

scholarly journals Wage Growth Due to Human Capital Accumulation and Job Search: A Comparison between the United States and Germany

ILR Review ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 562-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uta Schönberg
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Job Search ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Wage Growth ◽  
The United States ◽  
Human Capital Accumulation ◽  
Specific Human Capital ◽  
General Human Capital

This paper compares the sources of wage growth of young male workers in two countries with very different labor market institutions, the United States and Germany. The author first develops a simple method for decomposing wage growth into components due to general human capital accumulation, firm-specific human capital accumulation, and job search. The empirical analysis uses data from administrative records (Germany) and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (United States) for cohorts entering the labor market in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Although the two countries differed substantially in mobility rates, they were similar in the sources of wage growth, with general human capital accumulation being the most important single source and job search accounting for an additional 25% or more of total wage growth. There is no evidence that returns to firm-specific human capital accumulation were higher for German apprentices than for U.S. high school dropouts or graduates.

Does Overwork Attenuate the Motherhood Earnings Penalty among Full-Time Workers?

2021 ◽  
pp. 095001702110412
Author(s):  
Eunjeong Paek
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
White Women ◽  
Labour Supply ◽  
The United States ◽  
Longitudinal Survey ◽  
Full Time ◽  
White Mothers ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Annual Earnings

This study examines whether working long hours alters the motherhood earnings penalty in the context of the United States. The author uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979–2014) to model the annual earnings penalty mothers incur per child in the United States. The results support that working long hours (50+ hours per week) reduces the negative effect of motherhood on earnings for white women. Once we control for human capital and labour supply, however, there is no difference in the effect of children on earnings between full-time workers and overworkers. For black full-time workers and overworkers, having an additional child has little effect on earnings. The findings suggest that although overwork appears to attenuate the earnings penalty for white mothers, white mothers who work long hours exhibit a smaller penalty because they already have high levels of human capital and supply a great amount of labour.

Estimating productivity losses for cancer patients and caregivers of cancer patients.

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e19381-e19381
Author(s):  
Kevin Chiu ◽  
Joanna P. MacEwan ◽  
Katalin Bognar ◽  
Desi Peneva ◽  
Suepattra Grace May ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Productivity Loss ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fringe Benefits ◽  
Cancer Type ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Annual Productivity ◽  
Traditional Approaches

e19381 Background: Although cancer is a leading cause of illness in the United States, its true impact on productivity is poorly understood. Traditional approaches to capturing health-related productivity loss—e.g., the human capital method—focus on patients’ foregone wages, overlooking fringe benefits and the impacts incurred by caregivers and co-workers. Thus, the value of lost productivity is often underestimated. We sought to comprehensively estimate productivity loss incurred by working-age cancer patients and unpaid caregivers in the United States. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey study of (i) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and breast cancer (BC) patients, and (ii) unpaid caregivers. To measure loss associated with absenteeism and presenteeism, participants reported pre- and post-cancer diagnosis income, hours worked, and time to complete tasks. The “multiplier effect” method was used to measure productivity loss incurred by co-workers due to patient or caregiver absenteeism and/or presenteeism. Exploratory multivariable analyses controlled for cancer type, stage, age, time since diagnosis, oncogene mutation status, and industry sector. Results: A total of 404 participants (104 BC, 100 NSCLC patients; 100 BC, 100 NSCLC caregivers) completed the surveys. Of these, 319 participants (162 BC, 157 NSCLC) who worked ≥40 weeks in the year pre-diagnosis and who did not transition from part- to full-time work after diagnosis were included in the analysis. Over a third of the NSCLC (33%) and BC (43%) patients left the workforce after diagnosis. For patients, estimated mean annual productivity loss equaled $123,792 (144% of mean income pre-diagnosis) for NSCLC and $123,502 (209% of mean income pre-diagnosis) for BC. For caregivers, the estimated mean annual productivity loss was $90,421 (108% of mean income pre-diagnosis) for NSCLC and $143,839 (190% of mean income pre-diagnosis) for BC. Exploratory analyses also found that patient age and stage at diagnosis were positively correlated with a greater absenteeism effect. Conclusions: This study found that traditional approaches, such as the human capital method, significantly underestimate productivity loss in cancer patients and caregivers. Holistic approaches that include lost wages, fringe benefits, and teamwork effects, are better approaches to understanding the amplified impact cancer can have for patients, caregivers, and co-workers.

Time’s Up! Shorter Hours, Public Policy, and Time Flexibility as an Antidote to Youth Unemployment

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Eva Maich ◽  
Jamie K. McCallum ◽  
Ari Grant-Sasson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Youth Unemployment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Employment Relationships ◽  
Gig Economy ◽  
Hours Of Work ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Work Scheduling

This chapter explores the relationship between hours of work and unemployment. When it comes to time spent working in the United States at present, two problems immediately come to light. First, an asymmetrical distribution of working time persists, with some people overworked and others underemployed. Second, hours are increasingly unstable; precarious on-call work scheduling and gig economy–style employment relationships are the canaries in the coal mine of a labor market that produces fewer and fewer stable jobs. It is possible that some kind of shorter hours movement, especially one that places an emphasis on young workers, has the potential to address these problems. Some policies and processes are already in place to transition into a shorter hours economy right now even if those possibilities are mediated by an anti-worker political administration.

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