O objetivo desta dissertação é analisar a diferença salarial existente entre indivíduos que trabalham como professores do ensino fundamental e indivíduos que trabalham em outras ocupações. Busca-se compreender se tal diferença está na própria profissão docente ou na formação desses profissionais. Pretende-se identificar se é mais vantajoso trabalhar na ocupação docente ou em outras ocupações, dependendo da formação do indivíduo. Para tanto, calculam-se diferenciais de salário controlados e não-controlados. Os principais resultados para os diferenciais não-controlados revelaram que trabalhar como docente do ensino fundamental é mais vantajoso para indivíduos que ainda não possuem ensino superior. Para aqueles que são docentes e possuem curso superior ou estão em curso (graduação ou pós-graduação), independentemente dos controles, a ocupação docente não é vantajosa. Já no caso dos diferenciais controlados, ser professor do ensino fundamental quase sempre é vantajoso quando se considera o salário por hora. / The objective of this dissertation is to identify the wage differential between primary school teachers and individuals working in other occupations. We try to comprehend if the differential is on the teacher profession itself or on the career chosen by these individuals. In other words, we analyze if the differential is on the education of these professionals. We intend to identify through controlled and non-controlled wage differentials if (depending on the education of the individual) it is more advantageous working as a teacher or in another occupation. The main results for non-controlled differentials showed that working as a primary school teacher is more advantageous for individuals who did not complete the undergraduate level. For teachers with higher education completed or ongoing (undergraduation or graduation), independently of the controls, the teacher profession is not advantageous. For the controlled differentials, being a high school teacher is almost always advantageous when the hourly wage is considered.

This thesis discusses the changes and corresponding causes of the wage distribution in China from the late 1990s to the 2000s. According to various data sources, real wage inequality in China has been increasing over time. People have become increasingly concerned about such a phenomenon, which can potentially cause economic instability and further social unrest. From the analysis of household survey data, a significant part of the the increase in wage dispersion in China can be attributed to changes in the institutional changes. Having gone through the institutional reform of state-owned enterprises in the late 1990s, many Chinese firms have become more privatized and smaller in size. That is to say, the Chinese labour market becomes less affected by the government intervention (through public enterprises). Changes in the supply side of the labour market have also been examined. The increase in the number of university graduates slows down the growing wage dispersion. A comparison between the household survey data and the industrial enterprises data tells a slightly different story about Chinas wage structure. As the firm-level data omits within-firm wage inequalities and excludes data of primary sectors, the service sectors, and the small businesses, a decrease in the logarithm of the wage variation has been found. The inconsistency between the changes of real wage dispersion and the dispersion of log wages has been discussed in depth in the thesis. Nonetheless, since China set the new minimum wage in 2004, the wage distribution in the countrys industrial sector has been reshaped, which is not obviously shown in the household data. The impact of increasing the national minimum wage has been evaluated under a set of relatively conservative assumptions. Further analysis has been conducted to quantify the effect of trade liberalization on wage dispersion. It turns out that starting to export on the part of the firms has a significant positive effect on firm-level wages and employments, but the impact of an increasing export exposure remains debatable.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar o impacto da oferta e da demanda por trabalho qualificado sobre o diferencial de salários entre trabalhadores de elevada e baixa qualificação para o Brasil, durante o período de 1992 a 2009. Para tanto, foi utilizado um modelo microeconômico de oferta e demanda por trabalho qualificado, sendo que a qualificação é determinada pelos anos completos de escolaridade. Dessa maneira, foi constatada uma elevação do diferencial de salários entre o trabalho de elevada qualificação (com ensino superior) e baixa qualificação (com ensino médio ou ensino básico) no período de 1992 a 2001, que foi impulsionada pelo efeito da demanda por trabalho qualificado. Por sua vez, no período de 2002 a 2009, foi constatada uma pequena diminuição desse diferencial, determinada pela intensificação da oferta relativa de trabalho qualificado que ocorreu durante esse período. / The objective of this dissertation is to assess the impact of supply and demand for skills in the wage differentials between skilled and unskilled workers in Brazil, during 1992 and 2009. To do so, a microeconomic model of supply and demand for skill was used where a worker\'s skill is directly linked with its educational level. In this matter, a rise in the skill premium (wage differentials between college and less than college workers) was observed between 1992 and 2001, driven by the demand for skilled labor. Adversely, during 2002 and 2009, a slight decrease in the skill premium was observed which was driven by the intensification of the relative supply of skilled workers.

Equality is part of the European policy and legislation. However there are still evident signs of women being treated unequally in the labour market. The aim of the thesis is to answer the question if women are more vulnerable to economic shocks in terms of wage distribution. The focus will be on women in Spain in the context of the financial crisis of 2008. The thesis examines the evolution of the salary structure in the period 2002-2014 using the microdata of the Structural Earning Survey. The taste-based and the statistical discrimination theory are going to be described in order to explain the causes of gender wage discrimination. The methods applied in this paper are the Mincer method, which explains the human capital theory and the Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions, which separates the gender wage gap into explained and unexplained parts. The results from the study suggest that there is a decrease in the gender wage gap in Spain following the situation before and after the crisis.

In my first chapter, I provide a solution for how to model bargaining when there is on-the-job search and worker turnover depends on the wage. Bargaining is a standard feature in models without on-the-jobs search, but, due to endogeneity of the match surplus, a solution does not exist when worker turnover depends on the wage. My solution is based on wages being infrequently renegotiated. With renegotiation, the equilibrium wage distribution and the bargaining outcomes are both unique and the model nests earlier models in the literature as limit cases when wages are either continuously or never renegotiated. Furthermore, the rate of renegotiation has important implications for the nature of the equilibrium. A higher rate of renegotiation lowers the response of the match duration to a wage increase, which decreases a firm's willingness to accept a higher wage. This results in a lower share of the match surplus going to the worker. Moreover, a high rate of renegotiation also lowers the positive wage spillovers from a minimum wage increase, since these spillovers rely on firms' incentives to use higher wages to reduce turnover. In the standard job ladder model, search is modelled via an employment-specific Poisson rate. The size of the Poisson rate governs the size of the search friction. The Poisson rate can represent the frequency of applications by workers or the rate at which firms post suitable vacancies. In the second chapter, which is co-authored with Jake Bradley, we set up a model which has both of these aspects. Firms infrequently post vacancies and workers occasionally apply for these vacancies. The model nests the standard job ladder model and a version of the stock-flow model as special cases while remaining analytically tractable and easy to estimate empirically from standard panel data sets. The structurally estimated parameters are consistent with recent survey evidence of worker behavior. The model fits moments of the data that are inconsistent with the standard job ladder model and in the process reconciles the level of frictional wage dispersion in the data with replacement ratios used in the macro labor literature. In my third chapter, which is co-authored with Coen Teulings, we develop a simple method to measure the position in the job ladder in models with on-the-job search. The methodology uses two implications from models with on-the-job search: workers gradually select into better paying jobs until they get laid off at which time they start again to climb the job ladder. The measure relies on two sources of variation: (i) time-variation in job-finding rates and (ii) individual variation in the time since the last lay-off. We use the method to quantify the returns to on-the-job search and to establish the shape of the wage offer distribution by means of simple OLS regressions with wages as dependent variables. Moreover, we derive a simple prediction on the distribution of job durations. Applying the method to the NLSY 79, we find strong support for this class of models. We estimate the standard deviation of the wage offer distribution to be 12%. OJS accounts for 30% of the experience profile and 9% of the total wage dispersion.

Noncompete agreements are elements of workers' contracts that limit the worker's job mobility in the event of a job separation. In this dissertation, I address two major questions: first, why are noncompete agreements used, especially among workers earning low wages? Second, what are the ramifications of use of noncompete agreements, both for the firms using them and for the markets in which those firms exist? In the first chapter, co-authored with Matthew Johnson, I show that low wage workers sign noncompete agreements when their wages are constrained. I use a novel sample of owners of hair salons to empirically demonstrate that, when wage constraints are more binding due to a greater minimum wage or a greater labor supply, noncompete agreements are used more frequently. I show that use in this context may not maximize the firm's joint surplus, suggesting that policy interventions may be welfare-enhancing. In the second chapter, I generalize the theory of the first chapter, allowing for intertemporal changes in labor markets. I posit the existence of noncompete agreement cycles, which may explain recent trends in use among low wage employees. In a noncompete agreement cycle, workers who separate must exit the labor market. Low labor supply decreases use of noncompete agreements, allowing labor supply to increase and leading to use of noncompete agreements once again. I examine the costs and benefits of a policy prohibiting NCAs, analyzing such a policy's sensitivity to various parameters. In the final chapter, I consider the effects of noncompete agreements on the effort exertion of workers. If a worker is able to exert effort in order to increase the value of an asset, that worker may wish to spin off a new firm to leverage its value. The worker's current employer faces a tradeoff: a noncompete agreement induces the employee to stay but decreases the employee's incentive to exert effort. I show that, when the value of a spinoff is unknown ex ante, noncompete agreements may cause large ex post efficiency losses by limiting creation of highly profitable spinoffs.

This dissertation examines gender pay disparity and women’s and men’s pay increase trajectories in a comparative analysis of the U.S. nonprofit and for-profit sectors. First, using the U.S. Censuses from 1990 and 2000, and the American Community Survey 2010-2014 data, this dissertation examines the nonprofit/for-profit difference in gender pay equity in Chapter 4. Traditionally, researchers have examined gender pay disparity across all industries in the entire economy combined. My analysis, however, focuses on 15 human service industries because nonprofit organizations are usually concentrated in those fields only. This empirical chapter makes two contributions to the field: first, it offers a more apples-to-apples comparison between pay in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors than previous research; second, it captures the gender pay disparity at three points in time, thus reflecting the change over the past 20 years. My industry-specific results challenge two normative assumptions: first, that nonprofits pay their workers lower than for-profits; and second, the smaller gender pay disparity in the nonprofit sector is a result of nonprofit pay compression. Leveraging theories from economics, sociology, and organizational studies, this empirical chapter pinpoints factors, such as industrial competition for labor, institutional pressures, level of unionization, and organizational form, that lead to a difference – or lack thereof – in the level of gender pay disparity between the two sectors. My second empirical chapter (Chapter 5) examines women’s and men’s pay increase trajectories in the nonprofit (NP) and for-profit (FP) sectors based on the Survey of Income and Program Participation 2008 panel data. This chapter traces the pay increases for four groups of workers: NP Stayers, FP Stayers, NP-FP Movers, and FP-NP Movers. The results show that there was selection in workers’ moving behaviors: NP-FP Movers tended to be those who were disadvantaged in the nonprofit sector, while FP-NP Movers tended to be those who were better off in the for-profit sector. The analysis does not find gender or sectoral difference in pay increase trajectories for workers who chose to stay in the same sector. This empirical chapter is the first attempt at tracing the pay trajectories of nonprofit and for-profit human service workers using longitudinal data.

This thesis utilises Productivity and Investment Climate Survey (PICS) 2007 data to explore native and immigrant wage determinants and wage differentials in Malaysia. The Oaxaca decomposition analysis is conducted by adapting Oaxaca and Ransom (1994) and Fortin (2008) with quantile regression to identify the non-discriminatory wage structure and the components of the wage differentials along the income distribution, making this as one of the contributions of this thesis. It then further explores the unexplained component of wage differentials by investigating the causes of educational mismatch and the effect of educational mismatch on native and immigrant wages. Findings show that the educational mismatch gives dissimilar effect on native and immigrant wages. Interestingly, the educational mismatch potentially widens the native-immigrant wage differentials. Further, this thesis explores the labour demand-side effect on native and immigrant wages. This thesis applies the dominance and decomposition analyses to identify and decompose the effect of individual and firm characteristics on wage separately. The results suggest that native wage is mostly determined by individual characteristics. On the other hand, firm and regional characteristics mostly determine the immigrant wage levels. This thesis establishes and enhances our understanding on the wage determinants and wage differentials that exist between native and immigrant as well as provides an empirical evidence of the educational mismatch and firm characteristics effects on wages of native and immigrant workers in Malaysia.

Universidade Federal do Cearà / Este estudo analisa os efeitos da evoluÃÃo do salÃrio mÃnimo no Brasil sobre a distribuiÃÃo de renda entre categorias de trabalhadores, bem como o fluxo de trabalhadores, entre faixas de rendas demarcadas por um e dois salÃrios mÃnimos, em conseqÃÃncia do aumento do salÃrio mÃnimo verificado no perÃodo de 1995 a 2003. Os trabalhadores foram agrupados em diversas categorias de modo a melhorar a especificidade da anÃlise. Foram utilizados dados das PNADs (Pesquisa Nacional de Amostra por DomicÃlio) de 1995 e 2003, aplicando-se uma metodologia nÃo-paramÃtrica, com o uso do estimador de Kernel para estimaÃÃo das densidades dos rendimentos dos trabalhadores. Os resultados sÃo eminentemente visuais e qualitativos e mostram que algumas categorias tiveram aumentos significativos na proporÃÃo de trabalhadores com renda igual ou menor que um salÃrio mÃnimo. VÃrias categorias experimentaram um forte fluxo de trabalhadores com renda maior que dois salÃrios mÃnimos em direÃÃo a rendas entre um e dois salÃrios mÃnimos e rendas menores que um salÃrio mÃnimo, evidenciando uma piora na distribuiÃÃo da renda entre categorias de trabalhadores. / This study analyzes the effect of the minimum wage trend in Brazil on labor income the distribution, as well as the flow of workers, between bands of labor income demarcated by one and two minimum wages, in consequence of the increase in minimum wage verified in the period 1995 the 2003. Workers were grouped in different categories, in order to improve detailing in the analysis. The PNADs (National Research of Sample for Domicile) data for the 1995 - 2003 series were used, applying a not-parametric methodology, with the use of estimator Kernel, to estimate the densities of workersâ income. The results are visual and qualitative and show that some categories had significant changes in the ratio of workers with lesser or equal than a minimum wage and others experienced a strong flow of workers with bigger than two minimum wages in direction to incomes between one and two minimum wages and lesser incomes that a minimum wage.

Wong, Pui Hang. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-61). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Characterizing Illegal Immigrants --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2 --- Job Displacement --- p.5 / Chapter 2 --- Minimum Wage Unemployment --- p.10 / Chapter 2.1 --- The Basic Model --- p.11 / Chapter 2.2 --- The Effect of Illegal Immigration --- p.14 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- The Solow Model --- p.15 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- The Decentralized Ramsey Model --- p.21 / Chapter 3 --- Frictional Unemployment --- p.26 / Chapter 3.1 --- The Basic Model --- p.27 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- The Economy with Illegal Migrants --- p.32 / Chapter 3.2 --- Productivity Effect --- p.36 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Comparative Statics --- p.38 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Unemployment --- p.40 / Chapter 3.3 --- Exploitation Effect --- p.41 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- A Simulation Example --- p.47 / Chapter 3.4 --- Immigration Controls --- p.48 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Workplace Sanction --- p.49 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Deportation & Border Patrol --- p.53 / Chapter 4 --- Conclusion --- p.56