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This paper examines the importance of skill mismatch as an explanation for wage inequality across different education groups. The analysis contributes to the view that both the supply and the demand side should be accounted for when investigating wage inequality. The empirical analysis uses a general measure of skill mismatch as well as a specific measure of overeducation among university graduates. The results show that the incidence of skill mismatch is an important explanation factor for wage inequality in Germany across time and across birth cohorts. Especially for the group of university graduates, the difference in wage dispersion among matched and mismatched workers is considerably high. Wage dispersion related to overeducation tend to be less pronounced for younger cohorts of university graduates. This is important from a policy perspective, as the degree of wage dispersion related to overeducation can be considered as a risk in association with the investment in education.

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The fight for the introduction of a national minimum wage was spearheaded by the Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC), and this effort was stepped up after the Government announced a hefty increase in the salary of government employees. The demand seems to be well-founded as the minimum wage will see the workers in the private sectors, which are not benefiting from the government salary increase, protected. In mid 2007, the MTUC organized a nationwide picket across more than a dozen locations countrywide. The MTUC has stepped up its eight-year-long campaign, which would mainly benefit private-sector workers. The MTUC has been pressuring the Malaysian government to introduce a minimum wage of RM 900 plus Cost of Living Allowance of RM 300. They argue that a viable minimum wage would increase the household income, attract more local Malaysian workers and reduce dependence on foreign labour. This paper offers a critical analysis of the case for a national minimum wage for Malaysia.

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This address to a Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) event discusses spare capacity in the labour market from four perspectives: (1) the rates of unemployment and underemployment; (2) the flexibility of labour supply; (3) the effectiveness with which people are matched with job vacancies; and (4) trends in wages growth. The speech finishes with some comments on monetary policy.

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From a very low base in 1995, traineeship starts now number around 200,000 each year. Their growth belies the economic cycle. In this paper a range of evidence is brought to bear to show that the productivity gap between trainees and adult workers is narrower than implied by the structure of training wages which, by implication, accounts for the high concentration of trainees in relatively low-pay industries such as retail and hospitality. Government subsidies for traineeships are best seen as a labour market program and should be re-oriented towards disadvantaged individuals as originally suggested by the 1986 Kirby report [indexed at TD/LMR 85.649]. The application of a standard nominal training wage across industries is also a contributory factor to the pattern of traineeship activity.

Published abstract.

The volume from which this conference paper is taken is indexed at TD/TNC 96.861. Selected individual papers are indexed from TD/TNC 96.862 to TD/TNC 96.866. Show less

This paper analyzes the life-cycle career costs associated with child rearing and decomposes their effects into unearned wages (as women drop out of the labor market), loss of human capital, and selection into more child-friendly occupations. We estimate a dynamic life-cycle model of fertility, occupational choice, and labor supply using detailed survey and administrative data for Germany for numerous birth cohorts across different regions. We use this model to analyze both the male-female wage gap as it evolves from labor market entry onward and the effect of pro-fertility policies. We show that a substantial portion of the gender wage gap is explainable by realized and expected fertility and that the long-run effect of policies encouraging fertility are considerably lower than the short-run effects typically estimated in the literature.

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This paper explains the narrowing of gender gaps in wages and market hours in recent decades by the growth of the service economy. [The authors] propose a model with three sectors: goods, services and home production. Women have a comparative advantage in the production of services in the market and at home. The growth of the services sector, in turn driven by structural transformation and marketisation of home services, acts as a gender-biased demand shift and leads to a rise in women's wages and market hours relative to men. Quantitatively, the model accounts for an important share of the observed rise in women's relative wages and market hours and the fall in men's market hours. Finally, model predictions are confirmed on US state-level evidence on the impact of the rise in services on gender outcomes.

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With [an] ageing population and changing career patterns, directing new apprenticeships in the 'traditional' trades primarily to younger males may not meet future skill demands [of] the economy. In these trades, over-25s are 12 per cent of the numbers in training in 2000, up from 8 per cent in 1995. Women are just 1 per cent of total training numbers in these same trades. But, the over-25s now occupy about 30 per cent of apprenticeships and traineeships generally. NCVER [National Centre for Vocational Education Research] has studied adults in traditional trades, via employer case studies. Following are interim directions and findings: (1) innovation in recruitment is opening up new 'second chance' pathways for adult apprentices - be they experienced workers or ex-university and VET [vocational education and training] students. However, government funding and administrative support for trades does not always favour prospective adult apprentices; (2) few companies have a broad model for adults in trades - i.e. accelerated training, premium skill training, women in trades, or training for post-trade careers. Workplace and training innovation is limited. Earning 'low' wages relative to other adults, adult apprentices often travel a fairly traditional route through the training package and training delivery for much the same term as the juniors; (3) adult apprentices may have advantages in terms of maturity, dependability and commitment, but 'high' apprentice wages relative to juniors are a brake on numbers. Companies surveyed expect adults’ share of ‘traditional’ apprenticeships to stay much the same; (4) while the national VET strategy favours 'lifelong learning', system policies and company practices change [too?] slowly, if increases in adult apprentice numbers are desired. This may have its impact on productivity and innovation, meeting of skill demands in the economy, and diversity of individual career opportunities.

Published abstract. The reports on this research, 'Getting adults into the trades' and 'Getting adults into the trades: case studies', both by Stephen Saunders and John Saunders, are indexed at TD/TNC 70.04 and TD/TNC 70.20.

The collection of papers is indexed at TD/TNC 73.601. Individual papers are indexed from TD/TNC 73.602 to TD/TNC 73.621. Show less

G20 Leaders' goal of more and better jobs requires an integrated set of policies that work at both the macroeconomic and labour market levels. This report reviews trends in informality and the quality of employment and concludes that strategies to facilitate the transition to formality, reduce working poverty, reconnect wage and productivity trends and reduce job insecurity, in particular by addressing labour market segmentation, offer strong potential dividends for meeting the growth and employment goals of the G20, not least by supporting aggregate demand. For many G20 countries, structural underemployment, informality and qualitative indicators of employment are more significant measures of the challenges they face in achieving inclusive growth and decent employment for all than unemployment rates alone.

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The place of apprenticeships in the French educational system has largely evolved for the past two decades. It was before mainly used to reach a first secondary vocational qualification level. Nowadays, it constitutes a parallel way of acquiring a vocational or technical qualification in several fields and whatever the educational level. A large number of French studies showed that if apprenticeships provide an easier access to the labour market, it does not offer any benefits in terms of wages. This finding arises from the analysis of the secondary vocational qualification level, a population which was yet representative of apprenticeships ten years ago. Here, considering the vocational or technical college degree level, we obtain opposite results: former apprentices do not gain a genuine advantage in getting a job, but do experience higher earnings than other leavers exiting from the traditional scholar track. Overall, the individual benefits of apprenticeships seem to depend on the educational level.

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Despite the apparent importance of the topic, labour market segregation between urban residents and rural migrants has received little attention outside of China. In the past decades, Vietnam has experienced a remarkable increase in its internal migrant population in the cities. The census data shows that about 4.5 million people (6.5 percent of the population) aged over five migrated between 1994 and 1999.1 Of which, 1.6 million were rural-urban migrants (Dang et al. 2003). It rose to 7.7 percent in 2009 (Le et al. 2011). The increased flow of rural migrants to urban areas is a response to push and pull factors. Poverty, land shortages and a lack of opportunities are some of the push factors that drive rural residents to leave their home village. The new economic opportunities (jobs and income) unleashed by the market reform in 1986, Doi Moi (Renovation), are one of the pulling factors that attract rural residents to migrate to urban areas (Cu 2005).

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