Now showing 1 - 10 of 20
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The minimum wage and hours per worker

2010-10, Strobl, Eric, Walsh, Frank

In a competitive model we ease the assumption that efficiency units of labour are the product of hours and workers. We show that a minimum wage may either increase or decrease hours per worker and the change will have the opposite sign to the slope of the equilibrium hours hourly wage locus. Similarly, total hours worked may rise or fall. We illustrate the results throughout with a Cobb-Douglas example.

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The formal sector wage premium and firm size for self-employed workers

2012-03, Bargain, Olivier, Badaoui, Eliane, Kwenda, Prudence, Strobl, Eric, Walsh, Frank

We develop a model where workers may enter self-employment or search for jobs as employees and where there is heterogeneity across workers’ managerial ability. Workers with higher skills will manage larger firms while workers with low managerial ability will run smaller firms and will be in self-employment only when they cannot find a salaried job. For these workers self-employment is a secondary/informal form of employment. The Burdett and Mortensen (1998) equilibrium search model is used for illustration as a special case of our more general framework. Empirical evidence from Mexico is provided and demonstrates that firm size wage effects for employees and self-employed workers are broadly consistent with the model.

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An equilibrium search model of the informal sector

2006-12, Badaoui, Eliane, Strobl, Eric, Walsh, Frank

We use an equilibrium search framework to model a formal- informal sector labour market where the informal sector arises endogenously. In our model large firms will be in the formal sector and pay a wage premium, while small firms are characterised by low wages and tend to be in the informal sector. Using data from the South African labour force survey we illustrate that the data is consistent with these predictions.

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The Formal Sector Wage Premium and Firm Size for Self-employed Workers

2013-10, Bargain, Olivier, Badaoui, Eliane, Kwenda, Prudence, Strobl, Eric, Walsh, Frank

We develop a model where workers may enter self-employment or search for jobs as employees and where there is heterogeneity across workers’ managerial ability. Workers with higher skills will manage larger firms while workers with low managerial ability will run smaller firms and will be in self-employment only when they cannot find a salaried job. For these workers self-employment is a secondary/informal form of employment. The Burdett and Mortensen (1998) equilibrium search model is used for illustration as a special case of our more general framework. Empirical evidence from Mexico is provided and demonstrates that firm size wage effects for employees and selfemployed workers are broadly consistent with the model.

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Changes in the gender wage gap and the returns to firm specific human capital

1999-03, Walsh, Frank, Strobl, Eric

If employers believe females are more likely to separate from a job than males, efficient cost sharing of on-the-job training implies that females will have higher returns to tenure. Becker and Lindsay (1994) argue that this is true empirically. (1994). Updating the analysis we find that that there is no longer a difference in the probability of leaving jobs or in returns to tenure by gender. Differences in contracts to finance on the job training can no longer explain any of the “discrimination” component in the gender wage gap.

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The Re-Building Effect of Hurricanes: Evidence from Employment in the US Construction Industry

2009-12, Strobl, Eric, Walsh, Frank

We examine the impact of hurricane strikes on the construction industry in US counties. To this end we use a measure of hurricane destruction derived from a wind field model and historical hurricane track data and employ this within a dynamic labour demand framework. Our results show that destruction due to hurricanes causes on average an increase in county level employment in construction of a little over 25 per cent.

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Recent Trends in Trade Union Membership in Ireland

2009, Walsh, Frank, Strobl, Eric

Using micro data from the Quarterly National Household Survey we look at trends in Irish union membership from 2001-2006. There was a steep decline in union density. Decomposition analysis suggests that most of the decline is associated with a decline in the underlying probability of becoming a member for different groups of workers rather than a change in composition.

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Structural change and long-term unemployment in Ireland

1996, Strobl, Eric, Walsh, Patrick P.

In this paper we investigate the build-up in male long-term unemployment by allowing for heterogeneity both in the unemployment inflow and conditional survival rates. We construct semi-annual series of the male flows into and out of the Irish Live Register for the period 1967 to 1995 and develop a methodology that allows us to decompose the unemployment inflow by age and unemployment scheme and the unemployment outflow by duration of spell, age and unemployment scheme. Our results in conjunction with other evidence indicate that it was heterogeneity in the unemployment inflow caused by the changing occupational structure of employment over the 1980s that caused the build-up and persistance of male long-term unemployment in Ireland.

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Creating jobs through public subsidies : an empirical analysis

2008, Girmaa, Sourafel, Görg, Holger, Strobl, Eric, Walsh, Frank

This paper analyses the impact of government grants on labour demand using plant level data for manufacturing industry in Ireland. Our data consists of a large sample of plants and their complete grant history. We provide evidence that additional employment is created over and above the level that would have prevailed in the absence of grant payments. We also find differences in the employment response to subsidies between domestic and foreign-owned plants, with the former creating more additional jobs per euro of grant payment. Simple cost-benefit analysis reveals that a large part of the costs of grants appears to be recouped in additional wage streams under reasonable assumptions.

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Multinational companies, backward linkages and labour demand elasticities

2006-12, Walsh, Frank, Görg, Holger, Henry, Michael, Strobl, Eric

This paper investigates the link between nationality of ownership and wage elasticities of labour demand at the level of the plant. In particular, we examine whether labour demand in multinationals becomes less elastic with respect to the wage if the plant has backward linkages with the local economy. Our empirical evidence, based on a rich plant level dataset, shows that the extent of local linkages indeed reduces the wage elasticity of labour demand. This result is economically important and holds for a number of different specifications.