Pub Date : 2026-01-20DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2026.102860
Joanna Venator
The desire to co-locate induces married couples to choose occupations that are either clustered in similar labor markets or dispersed across labor markets. Using new indices of occupational co-agglomeration, I document that geographic concentration of occupations has increased significantly since the 1980s, and the likelihood that married couples’ occupations are clustered in similar labor markets has increased. Being well-matched to one’s spouse in terms of occupational clustering is positively associated with earnings for women and secondary earners. These positive associations are stronger for individuals in occupations with higher costs of re-skilling and are associated with higher mobility for couples starting in sub-optimal labor markets.
{"title":"Concentrating on his career or hers?: Descriptive evidence on occupational co-agglomeration in dual-earner households","authors":"Joanna Venator","doi":"10.1016/j.labeco.2026.102860","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.labeco.2026.102860","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The desire to co-locate induces married couples to choose occupations that are either clustered in similar labor markets or dispersed across labor markets. Using new indices of occupational co-agglomeration, I document that geographic concentration of occupations has increased significantly since the 1980s, and the likelihood that married couples’ occupations are clustered in similar labor markets has increased. Being well-matched to one’s spouse in terms of occupational clustering is positively associated with earnings for women and secondary earners. These positive associations are stronger for individuals in occupations with higher costs of re-skilling and are associated with higher mobility for couples starting in sub-optimal labor markets.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48153,"journal":{"name":"Labour Economics","volume":"99 ","pages":"Article 102860"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146038971","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-17DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102847
Saman Darougheh
15% of Danish workers account for 60% of unemployment. Are these workers unemployed more frequently because of their lower productivity or higher opportunity costs of employment? Using administrative data linking workers to their earnings, wealth, debt, health records, parental backgrounds, partners, job types, and firm-level value added, I find strong evidence that higher unemployment risk reflects lower productivity rather than higher pecuniary opportunity costs. A calibrated heterogeneous-agents model with segmented labor markets is consistent with these findings: productivity differences and non-pecuniary opportunity costs explain most of the unemployment gap. This matters for social policy: optimal unemployment insurance is higher than if marginal workers’ unemployment was predominantly due to a high pecuniary opportunity cost.
{"title":"Why are marginal workers unemployed: Low productivity or high opportunity cost of employment?","authors":"Saman Darougheh","doi":"10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102847","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102847","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>15% of Danish workers account for 60% of unemployment. Are these workers unemployed more frequently because of their lower productivity or higher opportunity costs of employment? Using administrative data linking workers to their earnings, wealth, debt, health records, parental backgrounds, partners, job types, and firm-level value added, I find strong evidence that higher unemployment risk reflects lower productivity rather than higher pecuniary opportunity costs. A calibrated heterogeneous-agents model with segmented labor markets is consistent with these findings: productivity differences and non-pecuniary opportunity costs explain most of the unemployment gap. This matters for social policy: optimal unemployment insurance is higher than if marginal workers’ unemployment was predominantly due to a high pecuniary opportunity cost.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48153,"journal":{"name":"Labour Economics","volume":"99 ","pages":"Article 102847"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146038970","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-17DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2026.102858
Pietro Garibaldi , Pedro Gomes , Thepthida Sopraseuth
We study gender differences in vertical mismatch and their implications. First, we document facts about underemployment and overemployment and their relative wage penalties by gender, for the US between 1970 and 2022, as well as for a cross-section of US States. In 1970s and 1980s, the underemployment rate and their wage penalty relative to well-matched workers was higher for women. By 2022, both variables were higher for men. Second, we use the data to calibrate a neoclassical model of mismatch and find that frictions that generate mismatch have increased more for men during the last 50 years. Reducing these frictions to the level of women would have large effects in the participation rate of men, their wages, and in overall output. States where the underemployment rates and their wage penalty are higher for men, would see their output rise by 2%.
{"title":"Tables have turned: Vertical mismatch across gender","authors":"Pietro Garibaldi , Pedro Gomes , Thepthida Sopraseuth","doi":"10.1016/j.labeco.2026.102858","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.labeco.2026.102858","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We study gender differences in vertical mismatch and their implications. First, we document facts about underemployment and overemployment and their relative wage penalties by gender, for the US between 1970 and 2022, as well as for a cross-section of US States. In 1970s and 1980s, the underemployment rate and their wage penalty relative to well-matched workers was higher for women. By 2022, both variables were higher for men. Second, we use the data to calibrate a neoclassical model of mismatch and find that frictions that generate mismatch have increased more for men during the last 50 years. Reducing these frictions to the level of women would have large effects in the participation rate of men, their wages, and in overall output. States where the underemployment rates and their wage penalty are higher for men, would see their output rise by 2%.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48153,"journal":{"name":"Labour Economics","volume":"99 ","pages":"Article 102858"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146038972","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-16DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2026.102859
Yuanyuan Chen , Caiting Dong , Yangcheng Yu
Considerable scientific evidence highlights the critical role teachers play in student development, yet little is known about how their non-cognitive skills affect student mental well-being. This study addresses this gap by providing quasi-experimental evidence on the causal impact of head teacher sociability on student mental health. Using nationally representative data on randomly class-assigned students in Chinese middle schools, we show that a socially skilled head teacher significantly improves student mental health but has no discernible impact on their academic performance. Analyses of underlying mechanisms indicate that sociable head teachers are more likely to adopt uplifting pedagogical practices, foster positive relationships with students, and create supportive classroom environments. A decomposition analysis confirms that these three channels contribute substantially to the overall effect. By comparison, the sociability of core subject teachers exerts a minimal effect on student mental health. Our findings underscore the unique influence of head teachers and the importance of their sociability in fostering student psychological well-being.
{"title":"Do social skills of head teachers affect the mental health of students?","authors":"Yuanyuan Chen , Caiting Dong , Yangcheng Yu","doi":"10.1016/j.labeco.2026.102859","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.labeco.2026.102859","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Considerable scientific evidence highlights the critical role teachers play in student development, yet little is known about how their non-cognitive skills affect student mental well-being. This study addresses this gap by providing quasi-experimental evidence on the causal impact of head teacher sociability on student mental health. Using nationally representative data on randomly class-assigned students in Chinese middle schools, we show that a socially skilled head teacher significantly improves student mental health but has no discernible impact on their academic performance. Analyses of underlying mechanisms indicate that sociable head teachers are more likely to adopt uplifting pedagogical practices, foster positive relationships with students, and create supportive classroom environments. A decomposition analysis confirms that these three channels contribute substantially to the overall effect. By comparison, the sociability of core subject teachers exerts a minimal effect on student mental health. Our findings underscore the unique influence of head teachers and the importance of their sociability in fostering student psychological well-being.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48153,"journal":{"name":"Labour Economics","volume":"99 ","pages":"Article 102859"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146078796","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-13DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102846
Jaime Arellano-Bover , Carolina Bussotti , John M. Nunley , R. Alan Seals
We analyze the initial job-market matching of new US college graduates with a large-scale audit study conducted during 2016 and 2017, in which 36,880 résumés of college seniors were submitted to online job postings for business-related positions. We simulate the experience of US college students by incorporating variation in curricular and extracurricular activities. Our analysis reveals significant variation in callback rate returns to majors, with Biology and Economics majors receiving the highest rate, particularly in occupations involving high intensity of analytical and interpersonal skills. However, minors in History and Mathematics have precisely estimated zero effects on callback rates. Internship experiences that are social skills-oriented positively influence callbacks, yet this is not the case for analytical internships. Study abroad experiences enhance callback rates, predominantly in high interpersonal skill-intensive occupations. Listing both programming and data analysis skills significantly boosts callback rates. Our study provides a comprehensive characterization of which features of the college experience are more and less valuable during the high-stakes, first-job matching process.
{"title":"Unbundling the effects of college on first-job search: Returns to majors, minors, and extracurriculars","authors":"Jaime Arellano-Bover , Carolina Bussotti , John M. Nunley , R. Alan Seals","doi":"10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102846","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102846","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We analyze the initial job-market matching of new US college graduates with a large-scale audit study conducted during 2016 and 2017, in which 36,880 résumés of college seniors were submitted to online job postings for business-related positions. We simulate the experience of US college students by incorporating variation in curricular and extracurricular activities. Our analysis reveals significant variation in callback rate returns to majors, with Biology and Economics majors receiving the highest rate, particularly in occupations involving high intensity of analytical and interpersonal skills. However, minors in History and Mathematics have precisely estimated zero effects on callback rates. Internship experiences that are social skills-oriented positively influence callbacks, yet this is not the case for analytical internships. Study abroad experiences enhance callback rates, predominantly in high interpersonal skill-intensive occupations. Listing both programming and data analysis skills significantly boosts callback rates. Our study provides a comprehensive characterization of which features of the college experience are more and less valuable during the high-stakes, first-job matching process.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48153,"journal":{"name":"Labour Economics","volume":"99 ","pages":"Article 102846"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145980620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We study how improved wage opportunities for skilled workers affect firm-based training, using the 2002 opening of the Swiss labor market to German commuters as a natural experiment. The reform triggered a large outflow of skilled workers from German border regions, prompting firms to expand apprenticeship training. Using a Difference-in-Differences approach, we find a significant increase in the number of apprenticeships in affected firms in Germany despite unchanged apprentice wages. This pattern is consistent with an outward shift in apprentice supply: higher wages for skilled workers across the border made apprenticeships more attractive to young people. Our findings suggest that improvements in skilled workers’ wage prospects, rather than adjusting apprentice pay, may help to address training gaps and alleviate skill shortages.
{"title":"Employment prospects and firm-based training — Evidence from opening the Swiss-German border","authors":"Caroline Neuber-Pohl , Damiano Pregaldini , Uschi Backes-Gellner , Sandra Dummert , Harald Pfeifer","doi":"10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102848","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102848","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We study how improved wage opportunities for skilled workers affect firm-based training, using the 2002 opening of the Swiss labor market to German commuters as a natural experiment. The reform triggered a large outflow of skilled workers from German border regions, prompting firms to expand apprenticeship training. Using a Difference-in-Differences approach, we find a significant increase in the number of apprenticeships in affected firms in Germany despite unchanged apprentice wages. This pattern is consistent with an outward shift in apprentice supply: higher wages for skilled workers across the border made apprenticeships more attractive to young people. Our findings suggest that improvements in skilled workers’ wage prospects, rather than adjusting apprentice pay, may help to address training gaps and alleviate skill shortages.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48153,"journal":{"name":"Labour Economics","volume":"99 ","pages":"Article 102848"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145908851","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-30DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102849
Eren Gürer, Erol Taymaz
This study examines the impact of domestic outsourcing on the wages of workers performing outsourced tasks in Türkiye during the period 2012-2022, using an administrative employee-employer linked dataset. Outsourcing events are identified by tracking worker flows across firms with specific properties. Unlike existing studies, our dataset incorporates buyer-supplier transactions, enabling us to confirm that a relationship between the predecessor and successor firm b egins following the outsourcing event. This improves our ability to identify outsourcing events, which we use to explore wage effects of both high-skilled and low-skilled outsourcing. Our findings indicate that low-skilled workers experience wage losses from domestic outsourcing, while high-skilled, professional workers benefit, suggesting that domestic outsourcing may be one of the factors contributing to rising wage inequality.
{"title":"Skill-biased wage effects of domestic outsourcing","authors":"Eren Gürer, Erol Taymaz","doi":"10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102849","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102849","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the impact of domestic outsourcing on the wages of workers performing outsourced tasks in Türkiye during the period 2012-2022, using an administrative employee-employer linked dataset. Outsourcing events are identified by tracking worker flows across firms with specific properties. Unlike existing studies, our dataset incorporates buyer-supplier transactions, enabling us to confirm that a relationship between the predecessor and successor firm b egins following the outsourcing event. This improves our ability to identify outsourcing events, which we use to explore wage effects of both high-skilled and low-skilled outsourcing. Our findings indicate that low-skilled workers experience wage losses from domestic outsourcing, while high-skilled, professional workers benefit, suggesting that domestic outsourcing may be one of the factors contributing to rising wage inequality.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48153,"journal":{"name":"Labour Economics","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 102849"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145938490","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-19DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102845
Francesco Principe , Jan C. van Ours
We study labor market dynamics of workers in a highly competitive industry with a highly competitive labor market. We focus on the relationship between workers’ age, wages, and productivity. Our analysis uncovers an inverse U-shaped relationship. While some wage adjustments occur within the current firm, job mobility plays a crucial role in shaping wage trajectories. There is assortative matching with highly productive workers moving to highly productive firms, while less productive workers gravitate towards less productive firms. Our findings suggest that both in-firm wage progression and wage growth via job mobility contribute to a close alignment between wages and productivity throughout workers’ careers.
{"title":"Labor market dynamics in a highly competitive industry","authors":"Francesco Principe , Jan C. van Ours","doi":"10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102845","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102845","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We study labor market dynamics of workers in a highly competitive industry with a highly competitive labor market. We focus on the relationship between workers’ age, wages, and productivity. Our analysis uncovers an inverse U-shaped relationship. While some wage adjustments occur within the current firm, job mobility plays a crucial role in shaping wage trajectories. There is assortative matching with highly productive workers moving to highly productive firms, while less productive workers gravitate towards less productive firms. Our findings suggest that both in-firm wage progression and wage growth via job mobility contribute to a close alignment between wages and productivity throughout workers’ careers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48153,"journal":{"name":"Labour Economics","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 102845"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145884195","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-12DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102841
Jacob Penglase , Ömer F. Sözbir
The collective household model requires that household decisions result in Pareto efficient outcomes. While this assumption is falsifiable, these tests are often difficult to implement due to data limitations or insufficient statistical power. We identify a novel setting—multiple job holding—where these issues are less of an obstacle. Using data from Bangladesh, we estimate the labor supply of households where members are engaged in multiple occupations and use the parameter estimates to test the collective model. We are unable to reject Pareto efficiency, but do find evidence against the unitary model. The results support the use of the collective model as a framework to study the inner workings of the household.
{"title":"Are households Pareto efficient? A test based on multiple job holding","authors":"Jacob Penglase , Ömer F. Sözbir","doi":"10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102841","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102841","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The collective household model requires that household decisions result in Pareto efficient outcomes. While this assumption is falsifiable, these tests are often difficult to implement due to data limitations or insufficient statistical power. We identify a novel setting—multiple job holding—where these issues are less of an obstacle. Using data from Bangladesh, we estimate the labor supply of households where members are engaged in multiple occupations and use the parameter estimates to test the collective model. We are unable to reject Pareto efficiency, but do find evidence against the unitary model. The results support the use of the collective model as a framework to study the inner workings of the household.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48153,"journal":{"name":"Labour Economics","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 102841"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145797465","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-12DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102843
Micole De Vera , Javier Garcia-Brazales , Jiayi Lin
What determines long-term mental health and its intergenerational correlation? Exploiting variation in unemployment rates upon labor market entry across Australian states and cohorts, we provide novel evidence that the mental health of daughters is affected by the labor market entry conditions of their parents. In particular, a one standard deviation shock to the unemployment rate upon parental labor market entry worsens daughters’ mental health during adolescence by 11% of a standard deviation. This effect is accompanied by lower levels of satisfaction with their health, financial situation, safety, and overall life. A mediation analysis suggests that a sizable proportion (24%) of the impacts on the descendants’ mental health is explained by the worse mental health of their parents at mid-life. We do not detect any systematic impact of parental labor market entry conditions among sons.
{"title":"The long shadow of labor market entry conditions: Intergenerational determinants of mental health","authors":"Micole De Vera , Javier Garcia-Brazales , Jiayi Lin","doi":"10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102843","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102843","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>What determines long-term mental health and its intergenerational correlation? Exploiting variation in unemployment rates upon labor market entry across Australian states and cohorts, we provide novel evidence that the mental health of daughters is affected by the labor market entry conditions of their parents. In particular, a one standard deviation shock to the unemployment rate upon parental labor market entry worsens daughters’ mental health during adolescence by 11% of a standard deviation. This effect is accompanied by lower levels of satisfaction with their health, financial situation, safety, and overall life. A mediation analysis suggests that a sizable proportion (24%) of the impacts on the descendants’ mental health is explained by the worse mental health of their parents at mid-life. We do not detect any systematic impact of parental labor market entry conditions among sons.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48153,"journal":{"name":"Labour Economics","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 102843"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145840068","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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