Retour accueil Cerc]  - [Home Cerc]

Bulletin N°171

26 janvier 2009 - January 26, 2009

Accueil - Home

 
PAUVRETE - POVERTY

. What does it mean to be poor in a rich society ?,
R. Haveman, La Follette School of Public Affairs, Madison, Working paper, n° 2009-01, 31 p., (2009).
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Etats-Unis / United States

EMPLOI - EMPLOYMENT

. Activation policies in Ireland,
D. Grubb, S. Singh and P. Tergeist, OECD, Paris, OECD social, employment and migration working paper, n° 75, January, 150 p., (2009).
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Irlande / Ireland

.
Work, jobs and well-being across the millennium, A. E. Clark, Paris-Jourdan Sciences économiques, Paris, Document de travail, n° 2009-02, 43 p., (2009).

Résumé : Nous faisons appel à trois vagues de données de l’ISSP (1989, 1997 et 2005) afin de mesurer l’évolution de la qualité de l’emploi. En premier lieu nous soulignons que le chômage demeure l’une des causes les plus importantes des faibles niveaux de bien-être. Ensuite, l’importance relative accordée par les individus aux divers aspects du travail est restée plutôt stable dans le temps, bien qu’on note une certaine tendance à accorder plus de poids aux domaines les plus « sociaux » : les postes jugés utiles, et qui permettent d’aider les autres. Le principal résultat de notre analyse est que la qualité de l’emploi a rebondi entre 1997 et 2005, après avoir chuté dans la première moitié des années 90. Selon certaines estimations, la satisfaction au travail est plus élevée en 2005 qu’en 1989. En dernier lieu, le pourcentage de travailleurs indépendants a légèrement diminué selon les données de l’ISSP ; néanmoins, le nombre de travailleurs qui expriment une préférence pour le travail indépendant est systématiquement trois ou quatre fois plus important que le nombre de travailleurs effectivement indépendants. Puisque les indépendants sont plus satisfaits de leur travail que les salariés, une interprétation de ces faits est que les barrières à l’entrée au travail indépendant sont devenues plus élevées.

Summary :
This paper uses repeated cross-section data ISSP data from 1989, 1997 and 2005 to consider movements in job quality. It is first underlined that not having a job when you want one is a major source of low well-being. Second, job values have remained fairly stable over time, although workers seem to give increasing importance to the more “social” aspects of jobs: useful and helpful jobs. The central finding of the paper is that, following a substantial fall between 1989 and 1997, subjective measures of job quality have mostly bounced back between 1997 and 2005. Overall job satisfaction is higher in 2005 than it was in 1989. Last, the rate of self-employment has been falling gently in ISSP data ; even so three to four times as many people say they would prefer to be self-employed than are actually self-employed. As the self-employed are more satisfied than are employees, one consistent interpretation of the above is that the barriers to self-employment have grown in recent years.
Zone géographique / Geographical area : France

. Gli stranieri nel mercato del lavoro. I dati della rilevazione sulle forze di lavoro in un'ottica individuale e familiale, Istat, Roma, Argomenti, n° 36, 161 p., (2008).
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Italie / Italy

REVENU - INCOME

. Trends in the transitory variance of male earnings in the U. S. : 1970-2004,
R. Moffitt and P. Gottschalk, National Poverty Center, Ann Arbor, Working paper, n° 09-01, January, 50 p., (2009).

Résumé - Summary : We estimate the trend in the transitory variance of male earnings in the U.S. using the Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics from 1970 to 2004. Using both an error components model as well as simpler but more approximate methods, we find that the transitory variance increased substantially in the 1980’s and then remained at this new higher level through 2004 We also find a strong cyclical component to the transitory variance. Its increase accounts for between 30 and 65 percent of the total rise in cross-sectional variance, depending on the time period. The cross-sectional variance has recently increased but this reflects a rise in the variance of the permanent component, not the transitory component. Increases in transitory variance occurred for less educated in the early 1980s and for more educated workers in the later 1980s and early 1990s.
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Etats-Unis / United States

. Does the minimum wage have a higher impact on the informal than on the formal labor market ? Evidence from quasi-experiments,
M. Khamis, Institute for the Study of  Labor, Bonn, IZA discussion paper, n° 3911, December, 38 p., (2008).

Résumé - Summary : This paper investigates a puzzle in the literature on labor markets in developing countries: labor legislations not only have an impact on the formal labor market but also an impact on the informal sector. It has even been argued that the impact on the informal sector in the case of the minimum wage is stronger than on the formal sector. Using quasi-experiments of minimum wage changes and thereby exploiting geographical variation of the minimum wage bite, I find evidence for this hypothesis. Informal workers, workers without social security contribution, experienced significant wage increases when the minimum wage was raised while formal workers did not. This result highlights that non-compliance with one labor legislation, the social security contribution, does not necessarily imply non-compliance to other labor laws such as the minimum wage.
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Argentine / Argentina

. Individual good, public bad or societal syndrome ? A cross-country study of income, inequality and health, M. Karlsson, Oxford Institute of Ageing, Oxford, Working papers, n° 448, November, 41 p., (2008).

Résumé - Summary :
This paper examines the association between inequality and individual health across low, middle and high income countries making use of a unique dataset containing information on the health status of individuals in 21 countries and territories throughout the world with very different characteristics. The survey covers respondents between the ages of 40 and 79. Our dependent variable is self-assessed health (SAH), a categorical variable which ranges from ‘very poor’ to ‘very good’. As a robustness check, we also consider activities of daily living (ADL). We estimate the relationship between economic inequalities and health and the relationship between reference group incomes and health – with particular focus on how the estimated effects depend on the reference group considered. We find strong evidence that average incomes within the own age group has a negative effect on health, thus giving support to the relative income hypothesis. This reference group seems to be more important than those based on geographic proximity. However, there seem to be important differences between high- and low-income countries in this and other respects. Finally, there is strong evidence of a general income inequality effect.
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Données internationale / International data

AUTRES DONNEES SOCIALES - OTHER SOCIAL ISSUES

. Quelles caractéristiques sociales et quel recours aux soins pour les bénéficiaires de la CMUC en 2006 ?, B. Boisguérin, Drees, Paris, Études et résultats, n° 675, janvier, 6 p., (2009).
Zone géographique / Geographical area : France

. What made him change ? An individual and national analysis of men's participation in housework in 26 countries,
M. J. Gonzales, T. Jurado-Guerrero and M. Naldini, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, DemoSoc working paper, n° 2009-30, January, 28 p., (2009).
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Europe

.
How can gender discrimination explain fertility behaviors and family-friendly policies ?, M. Recoules, Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, Paris, CES working papers, n° 2008.98, 25 p., (2008).

Résumé :
Ce papier traite de l'interaction entre la discrimination à l'encontre des femmes et les décisions familiales au travers d'un modèle d'équilibre général dans lequel les décisions de fécondité, d'offre de travail et de dépenses publiques sont endogènes. Les politiques familiales sont supposées permettre de réduire le temps consacré par les parents aux enfants. Le modèle montre que la discrimination à l'encontre des femmes peut expliquer les différences entre pays en matière de comportements familiaux. Les résultats mettent en évidence une relation en forme de U entre la fécondité et la discrimination. Un accroissement de la discrimination peut induire à la fois une baisse de la fécondité, de l'offre de travail des femmes et des dépenses publiques en faveur de la famille.

Summary : This paper focuses on the interaction between gender discrimination and household decisions. It develops a general equilibrium model with endogenous fertility, endogenous labor supply and endogenous size of government spending. Family policies are assumed to decrease the time that parents spend on their children. The model shows that gender discrimination may explain differences in household decisions between countries. The solution shows a U-shaped relationship between fertility and gender discrimination. An increase in the discrimination level implies a related decrease in fertility, women's participation in the labor force and in family-friendly policies.
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Pays de l'OCDE / OECD countries

. Prospects for the US and the world : A crisis that conventional remedies cannot resolve, W. Godly, D. B. Papadimitriou and G. Zezza, The Levy Economics Institute, Strategic Analysis, Annadale-on-Hudson, December, 11 p., (2008).
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Données internationale / International data