Workforce Composition, Productivity, and Labor Regulations in a Compensating Differentials Theory of Informality

We develop a search model of informal labor markets with realistic labor regulations, including minimum wage, and heterogeneous workers and firms. Smaller firms and lower wages in the informal sector emerge endogenously as firms and workers decide whether to comply with regulations. Because skilled and unskilled workers are imperfect substitutes in production, the model uniquely captures the informality consequences of shocks that affect returns to skill, such as rising educational levels. The model also reproduces empirical patterns incompatible with other frameworks: the presence of skilled and unskilled workers in the formal and informal sectors, the rising share of skilled workers by firm size, and formal and firm-size wage premiums that vary by skill level. We estimate the model using 2003 data from Brazil and show that it successfully predicts labor market changes observed between 2003 and 2012. Under a range of different assumptions, changes in workforce composition appear as the main drivers of the reduction in informality over this period. Policy simulations using the estimated model suggest that progressive payroll taxes are a cost-effective way to reduce informality.

Mehrsprachigkeit am Arbeitsplatz

Communication at work as well as multilingualism, language policy and language politics are increasingly in the focus of linguistic research. Global division of labor, internationalization of labor and trade markets, mobility of highly skilled and unskilled workers, and commodification of language as a product have all played their part. The authors of this book outline the complexity and breadth of the research field: from language courses for asylum seekers to integrate them into the labor market, to linguistic diversity in school social work and competence profiles for lay interpreters in professional contexts, to linguistic practices in the highly internationalized world of soccer and the preconditions of successful communication in the multilingual environment of EU institutions. The contributions offer insights into existing practices, identify challenges, and present possible solutions.

Trade and jobs in South Africa: a case of skilled vs unskilled workers

PurposeThe purpose is to establish the impact of trade on manufacturing employment in South Africa.Design/methodology/approachTwo techniques, the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) and the Dynamic Common Correlated Effects (DCCE), are applied on a panel dataset comprising 26 three-digit manufacturing industries with data observed between 1970 and 2016.FindingsThe impact of trade on employment is miniscule at best and insignificant at worst once the study controls for cross-sectional dependency. This is true for both skilled and unskilled workers. Employment of skilled workers is explained by remuneration while employment of unskilled workers is explained by output dynamics.Practical implicationsTrade is widely attacked for causing labour market disruption through job losses. This hypothesis is not supported by data for South Africa as no link is confirmed between trade and employment of skilled and unskilled workers.Originality/valueEstimating the trade and employment link for skilled and unskilled workers while controlling for both endogeneity and cross-sectional dependency.

FASILITAS PELATIHAN DAN KOMUNITAS DESAIN GRAFIS

Bungur subdistrict, located in Senen district, Central Jakarta, is famous as a printing area. Bungur has various types of printing services starting from digital printing, offset printing, and finishing services (emboss, binding, cutting, etc). There are many skilled workers are hired to work in the printing services. Skilled or unskilled workers in printing services are people who rely on physical labour and tend to work longer than educated workers. The lack of interaction and tension in the workplace after a long period can cause stress which leads to other diseases. However, the stress can be solved by having an informal interaction apart from their workplace and home. In the other hand, long working hours have reduced opportunities for these workers to have an informal social interaction. As a respond to the problem, this training facility design as a place for skilled and unskilled workers to have social interaction apart from their workplace and home. This project also aims to be a place for residents of Bungur Subdistrict to develop their skills in graphic design. To reach the goals, the design has a wide-open space for anyone on the basement floor which is open and becomes into one virtually with the ground floor. Above the open space there are training facility and gallery which have separated circulation. The separation between the training facilities, gallery, and the open space under it aims to fulfil the needs of each program. AbstrakKecamatan Bungur, yang terletak di distrik Senen, Jakarta Pusat, terkenal sebagai daerah percetakan. Bungur memiliki berbagai jenis layanan pencetakan, mulai dari pencetakan digital, cetak offset, dan layanan finishing (emboss, binding, cutting, dll). Oleh karena itu banyak pekerja terampil dipekerjakan untuk bekerja di bidang percetakan. Pekerja yang terampil atau tidak terampil dalam layanan pencetakan adalah orang-orang yang mengandalkan tenaga fisik dan cenderung bekerja lebih lama daripada pekerja yang berpendidikan. Kurangnya interaksi dan ketegangan di tempat kerja setelah waktu yang lama dapat menyebabkan stres yang mengarah pada penyakit lain. Namun, masalah ini dapat diselesaikan dengan interaksi informal yang terpisah dari tempat kerja mereka dan rumah dapat mengurangi stres tersebut. Tetapi, jam kerja yang panjang menghasilkan kesempatan minimal bagi para pekerja ini untuk melakukan interaksi sosial di luar tempat kerja atau rumah mereka. Akibatnya, fasilitas pelatihan ini dirancang untuk menjadi tempat bagi pekerja terampil dan tidak terampil untuk berinteraksi sosial antara tempat kerja dan rumah mereka. Bukan hanya tempat untuk melakukan interaksi sosial, tetapi proyek ini juga bertujuan untuk menjadi tempat bagi warga Kecamatan Bungur untuk mengembangkan keterampilan mereka dalam desain grafis. Sebagai tempat interaksi, bangunan dirancang memiliki ruang terbuka lebar bagi siapa saja di lantai dasar yang terbuka dan menjadi satu dengan lantai dasar. Kemudian fasilitas pelatihan dan galeri melayang di atasnya dengan dukungan kolom. Pemisahan antara fasilitas pelatihan, galeri, dan ruang terbuka di bawahnya bertujuan untuk memenuhi kebutuhan masing-masing program.

Real Urban Wage in an Agricultural Economy Without Landless Farmers: Serbia 1862-1910

The paper presents the first estimate of the welfare ratio for Serbia using the 19th and early 20th century data on wages of skilled and unskilled workers (including the part paid in kind) and prices of goods that enter into “subsistence” and “respectability” consumption baskets. It finds a stagnation of unskilled wage close to the welfare ratio of 1, and a modest increase in skilled wage. The paper introduces several adjustments to conventional methodology in order to make it more relevant for predominantly agricultural societies. (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper)

CONSUMPTION BASKETS AND COST OF LIVING IN SOUTHERN LATE COLONIAL BRAZIL: RIO GRANDE, 1772-1823

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the cost of living and evolution of welfare ratios among urban workers in Rio Grande's vila, the main commercial enclave of the southern Portuguese dominions in America. From diverse sources (military and hospital expenditure accounts, merchant credit bills from probate inventories), we build different consumption baskets to calculate their cost in seven benchmark years: 1772, 1792, 1802, 1809, 1816, 1819 and 1823. The evolution of cost of living shows a consistent upward trend during the period, which, however, does not substantially affect welfare ratios. In order to build regional comparisons, we follow Allen's methodology (2001) to estimate welfare ratios of skilled and unskilled workers in Rio Grande, Buenos Aires and Montevideo. The results of using this approach could be useful to adjust the methodology for further international comparisons.

The Effects of the Chinese Imports on Brazilian Manufacturing Workers

This study examines the impacts of imports from China and from the Rest of the World (ROW) on the wages of Brazilian manufacturing workers during 2000–2012. In this period, import penetration in Brazil grew by 25 percent, and the Chinese share of it increased from 3 to 20 percent. Using household survey data that encompass both formal and informal workers, we find that imports from China and from the ROW had different effects on manufacturing skilled and unskilled workers’ wages. Both the skilled and unskilled workers were negatively affected by an increase in the Chinese import penetration of intermediate inputs. For skilled workers, the ROW import penetration effect was negative for labor-intensive industries and positive for the other industries, while the Chinese import penetration had a positive effect on skilled workers’ wages. For the unskilled workers, we find that those in unskilled-labor intensive industries experienced positive impacts from both China and ROW import penetrations, whereas larger import penetrations reduced the wages for unskilled workers in the other industries.

Internal Geography, Labor Mobility, and the Distributional Impacts of Trade

I develop a spatial-equilibrium model to quantify the distributional impacts of international trade in an economy with intranational trade and migration costs. Focusing on China, I find that international trade increases both between-region inequality among workers with similar skills and within-region inequality between skilled and unskilled workers, with the former accounting for 75 percent of the overall inequality increase. Ignoring spatial frictions will underestimate trade’s impact on the overall inequality and overestimate its impact on the aggregate skill premium. I further study how internal trade and Hukou reforms affect the domestic economy and the impacts of international trade. (JEL F14, F16, J24, O18, P23, P33, R12)

THE NORTH–SOUTH DIVIDE: REAL WAGES AND WELFARE IN BRAZIL DURING THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY

ABSTRACTWhat was the degree of Brazil's regional inequality in living standards during the first decades of the 20th century? This paper presents municipal and state information on wages and prices in order to build welfare ratios for skilled and unskilled workers between 1912 and 1940. Despite the significant differences in nominal wages and costs of living throughout the country, real wage differentials remained lower than those estimated by earlier studies. Williamson (1999) argued that real wages in the Southeast were approximately six times higher than in the Northeast during the 1930s. The new evidence in this paper suggests that wages were on average only 1.5 times higher.