The effects of foreign direct investment on job stability: Upgrades, downgrades, and separations
05 August 2020
We use linked employer-employee data to estimate the effect of foreign direct Investment (FDI) on workers’ job stability. Weare the first to consider firm-internal job transitions. Specifically, we examine the impact of FDI on the individual likelihood to up- or downgrade to occupations with more or less analytical and interactive tasks. To do so, we propose an iterative matching procedure that generates a homogeneous sample of firms with equal probabilities of investing. Based on this sample, we use proportional hazard models to retrieve dynamic effects on workers.
IAB-Discussion Paper 24/2020
Redistribution Preferences, Attitudes towards Immigrants, and Ethnic Diversity
04 August 2020
Ethnic diversity plays a crucial role in shaping national economic and social policy. A Change in the ethnic composition of a country affects citizens’ everyday life and social environment and may challenge present societal values, such as solidarity with and trust in fellow citizens. Based on the European Social Survey, I show that more contact with members of other ethnic groups in daily life is positively related to more open attitudes of natives towards immigrants. More interethnic contact of natives reduces their social distance to immigrants, their perception of immigrants as a threat to society, and their opposition to future immigration. In turn, an open-minded and tolerant attitude promotes mutual trust and solidarity within society.
IAB-Discussion Paper 23/2020
How digitalized is work in large German workplaces, and how is digitalized work perceived by Workers?
03 August 2020
Digitalization of work has been made responsible for an increase in labor market inequalities, not only with respect to job loss, but also concerning an increased polarization of the remaining jobs due to processes of devaluation and upgrading of jobs and occupations. However, the discussion about possible consequences is quite polarized and not very sophisticated regarding different technologies and different implementations of the same technology. To understand changes due to digitalization processes, we suggest measuring the implementation of digitalized work both at the individual employee and at the workplace level, because decisions about how digital assistance systems are implemented are made by the latter. Existing representative surveys in Germany so far miss to provide such a comprehensive overview of digitalized work in different occupations and workplaces, as well as their implications for workers. The aim of this paper is to present a newly developed multi-dimensional measurement of digitalized work implemented in a representative linked employer-employee study design. The instrument aims at measuring the prevalence of various dimensions of digitalized work (the use of digital communication, digital information, digital regulation and control, working with robots) and how those are perceived by workers.
IAB-Forschungsbericht 8/2020
Why digitisation affects some German federal states more than others
30 July 2020
The number of jobs in a German federal state (Bundesland) which could be replaced by digital technologies largely depends on the sectoral and occupational structures within this region. In this article, selected occupational segments are analysed to show that the federal states differ greatly in this regard.
The article can be found in our Magazine IAB-Forum
Dismissal Protection and Long-term Sickness Absence – First Evidence from Germany
23 July 2020
This paper analyses the causal effects of weaker dismissal protection on the incidence of long-term sickness (> six weeks). We exploit a German policy change, which shift ed the threshold exempting small establishments from dismissal protection from five to ten workers. Using administrative data, we find a significantly negative reform effect on transitions into long-term sickness in the second year aft er a worker has entered an establishment. This response is due to a behavioural, rather than a compositional effect and is particularly pronounced among medium-skilled males. Our results further indicate that the reform did not alter the probability of involuntary unemployment aft er sickness.
IAB-Discussion Paper 22/2020
The Spatial Decay of Human Capital Externalities – A Functional Regression Approach with Precise Geo-Referenced Data
22 July 2020
This paper analyzes human capital externalities from high-skilled workers by applying functional regression to precise geocoded register data. Functional regression enables us to describe the concentration of high-skilledworkers aroundworkplaces as continuous curves and to efficiently estimate a spillover function that depends on distance. Furthermore, our rich panel data allow us to address the sorting of workers and to disentangle human capital externalities from supply effects by using an extensive set of time-varying fixed effects.
IAB-Discussion Paper 21/2020
The Labor Market Impacts of Employer Consolidation: Evidence from Germany
15 July 2020
We use detailed administrative data to study how acquisitions — specifically the Acquisition of a plant by a firm with a similar plant in the same local labor market—aectworkers. Using an event study framework with a control group of workers at unaected plants, we find that acquisitions lead to employment losses for workers initially employed at the acquired (or “target”) firm, associated with labor force withdrawals by older female workers. At the same time we find evidence of a rise in wages for workers initially employed at targets and at the acquiring (or “buyer”) firm who remain with the combined enterprise, concentrated among lower-wage workers. We interpret these findings as suggesting that consolidations lead to a reduction in overall employment but a rise in rents per worker that lead to a pattern of losers and winners in the labor market.
IAB-Discussion Paper 20/2020
“Acceptance of social- and labor market programs and regulations”: Methodological report on the first survey wave
14 July 2020
The FIS-funded project “Acceptance of social- and labor market programs and regulations” asks citizens about their assessment of specific design alternatives for social and labor market policies in Germany. This report describes the design and the field organization of the first online survey conducted by the project. Furthermore, it presents a selectivity analysis of contact and participation probabilities as well as for consent to merge the survey data with administrative data.
IAB-Forschungsbericht 7/2020
What helps the “ka-boom”? Five elements of a sound economic stimulus programme for Germany
09 July 2020
Political plans aimed at kick-starting national economies have been introduced in many countries worldwide. The German Bundestag and Bundesrat passed a Coronavirus Tax Relief Act on 29 June 2020 that involves the first key elements of a large scale recovery programme. It is designed to get the German economy out of the crisis “with a ka-boom” as Germany’s Finance Minister Olaf Scholz put it. Some thoughts on the Government’s programme by IAB Director Bernd Fitzenberger.
The article can be found in our Magazine IAB-Forum
Click the following link for more articles in the series: Series “COVID-19 Crisis: Consequences for the Labour Market”
Short-time work in Europe: Rescue in the coronavirus crisis? An interview with IAB researcher Regina Konle-Seidl
25 June 2020
The coronavirus pandemic is keeping the economy on edge. To overcome the crisis, 33 of 36 OECD countries are now using short-time working schemes. All are pursuing the same goal of avoiding redundancies and retaining jobs. While the objective is the same in all countries, each country nevertheless tries to balance out a high use of the instrument and low deadweight effects and abuse. In an interview, the IAB researcher Regina Konle-Seidl explains the most important differences, discusses the advantages and disadvantages of short-time work, draws lessons from the use of this instrument in earlier times of crisis, and depicts first developments of short-time work and unemployment figures.
The article can be found in our Magazine IAB-Forum
Click the following link for more articles in the series: Series “COVID-19 Crisis: Consequences for the Labour Market”
See also: IAB-Forschungsbericht (IAB Research Report) 4/2020
What do we know about the employment of refugees in Germany? Answers to some frequently asked questions.
18 June 2020
In 2015, the highest number of refugees arrived in Germany since the end of the Second World War. The overall number of refugees in Germany increased by 1.2 million people until the end of 2018. A recent analysis implies faster labour market integration of refugees who arrived in Germany between 2013 to 2016 than was the case for refugees from previous years. The results show that the employment rate increases with the duration of stay. These figures are an important indicator for the integration of refugees into the labour market and have therefore been widely discussed in Germany. In this interview, the authors Herbert Brücker and Yuliya Kosyakova answer key questions about the study, which was co-authored with Eric Schuß.
The article can be found in our Magazine IAB-Forum
Short-time Work in Europe: Rescue in the Current COVID-19 Crisis?
16 June 2020
More countries than ever are using short-time work as a labour market policy instrument to secure employment and limit the social costs of the current COVID-19 Crisis. Highlighting the economic rationality of short-time work the report classifies European short-time work programmes into different clusters and describes significant changes in the programme design since March 2020. It further discusses possible effects against the background of empirical findings on short-time work from past times of crisis.
IAB-Forschungsbericht 4/2020
Is there a Wage Curve with Regional Real Wages?
09 June 2020
Do wages react to regional unemployment, as proposed by the theory behind the regional wage curve, if regional price differences are taken into account? This paper applies regional price indexes to assess the wage curve, whereas in the literature only nominal wages are used for wage curve regressions. In order to test the impact of regional prices on the wage curve we apply a variety of methodological approaches. With individual data from the US Census and the Polish Labor Force Survey we find a wage curve. However, in both countries, the local unemployment elasticity and spatial spillovers decrease significantly once regional price deflators are applied.
IAB-Discussion Paper 17/2020