<p>I examine how employing workers with specific human capital affects capital structure decisions by employers. Based on plant-level data from the U.S. Census Bureau, I use the opening of new plants as an exogenous reduction in human capital specificity-- the inability to transfer specific skill sets across employers--for incumbent workers in a local labor market. My results indicate that the opening of a new manufacturing plant in a given county leads to a 2.6-3.9% increase in the leverage of existing manufacturing firms in the county, relative to the leverage of manufacturing firms in an otherwise comparable county. Moreover, plant openings have a larger impact on firms that are more likely to share labor with the new plant, that have high labor intensity, and that have high marginal tax benefits of debt. Alternative explanations concerning productivity spillovers, product market competition, and county-wide shocks do not appear to account for the results. I find consistent evidence in a separate sample that contains a broad panel of firms. Overall, these results suggest that human capital specificity raises the cost of debt and thus decreases optimal leverage.</p> / Dissertation

This study examined whether the demand for more educated science and engineering workers outweighed longstanding practices of discrimination in hiring in high technology industries and science and engineering occupations. The study focused on the effects of education on the distribution of employment and wages among four racial and ethnic groups (non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, Hispanics and Asians), for the period 1992 to 2002. The main data used in the analyses came from the March Annual Demographic Survey. Multinomial logit analyses were used to determine the probabilities of employment, and ordinary least squares, non-parametric regressions and t-tests were used to examine wages. The analyses showed that education was more important in determining employment in S &E occupations, when compared to its effects in other occupations; and compared to race, other demographic and labor market characteristics. The effects of education were greater in S &E jobs in the high technology sector when compared to S &E jobs elsewhere in the economy. However, the effects of education varied with race, the level of education, and the industry/ occupational group under consideration in ways that suggest that both employment and wages continue to be influenced by correlates of race. Based on the findings, the study provides recommendations for policy and future research.

ABSTRACT This study employed components drawn from Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), the person agency and environment, to investigate the determinants of career-relevant knowledge/skills learning. Three types of psychological contract (PC) and self-efficacy (SE) were represented the person agency, and the job availability in free labor market (FLM) and commitment-oriented human resource management (HRM) were represented environment components. Based on the data from 990 employees from 62 firms analyzing, the findings revealed that relational and balanced PCs are positively related to firm-specific knowledge learning aspiration (KLA), whereas transactional one has negative relation with firm-specific KLA. FLM is positively correlated with self value-added KLA. SE is positively related to both KLAs. The three way interaction of relational and balanced PC, FLM, and SE has significant impacts on self value-added KLA. HRM has no direct impact on KLAs , but moderates the relationship between relational/balanced PC and firm-specific KLA. This study contributes to the psychological contract and SCCT researches, and the findings enhance the understanding of employees¡¦ concerns about their learning decisions which assist employer to consider their knowledge management strategy and practices.

The aim of the thesis is to analyze the reasons and consequences of international labor migration of women workers into Turkey. With the process of new global restructuring, transformations in production structure and labor organization, and rise of informal economy widen the gap between different geographies and generate a tied demand and supply relation between female labor and service sector. Today millions of women who suffer from poverty leave their countries in order to sell their labor in another country. Turkey has been a popular destination for women from post-Soviet countries since the 1980s. Many of them enter Turkey legally in accordance with Turkish visa requirements but become illegal by overstaying and working in country. Service sectors absorb this female labor, and many of them are employed as live-in domestic workers. This study aims to investigate how macro factors of international migration like global restructuring and transformations in the informal economy affects meso and micro structures. In this context, this study focuses on the formation of intermediary agencies and particularly individual migratory experiences of post-Soviet women in Ankara.

Labor mobility in the rural area of Mainland China plays recently an important role in its economic development process. And this enormous and inexpensive labor attracts foreign investments, including Taiwanese investment, to enter Mainland China¡¦s market, and, further, drives economic development of Asia-Pacific Region. However, from the viewpoint of Rural-Urban Dualism theory, on the social level, rural labors can not take part in political life, and preserve their rights. Thus, they become ¡§Silent Class¡¨ in the Chinese urban society. On the economic level, serious public security problems derivative from labor disputes and conflicts, and it attracts highly concerns of Central of Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and issues ¡§Constructing Harmonious Community and Well-Off Society¡¨; and on the social level, continued expanding poverty gap, social rejection, and prejudice cause deep impact on those labors. This studying focus on the changing steps of supply and demand of rural labor, in order to discuss the developmental trend of transferring process of rural labor form past to present, even to the future. Therefore, this essay concentrates on the changing mobility of rural labor in some aspects, for example regions, identifications, careers, and life forms, and political, social economic, cultural, policy/urbanization, and market/occupation connections between rural and urban area. The Result of studying is, Central of CCP has 3 ways to solve problems beneath the surface of rural labor and urbanization: 1. Accelerating transferring process of rural surplus labor with economic development strategy; 2. Upgrading skill standard of rural labor, to guarantee employment; 3. Promoting and enlarging domestic consume, to constrain inflation. At the same time, the capability of labor unions should be reinforced and the organized degree of rural labor should be improved. Hoping that, they are able to play a more active role to protect rights of rural labors.

<p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The purpose of this essay is to compare the integration policy between Socialdemokraterna, Moderaterna and Sverigedemokraterna with focus on labor-market integration, housing segregation and language knowledge. The international immigration has in recent years increased significantly and this has also enriched the receiving countries and still the numbers of extreme right parties have increased. In Sweden a racist populist party, Sverigedemokraterna, are only a few steps away from entering the parliament.</p><p> </p><p>The question in focus is: <em>What differences or similarities are there between the integration politics between Moderaterna, Socialdemokraterna and Sverigedemokraterna with focus on the areas housing, work and language? </em></p><p><em> </em></p><p>By applying the theoretical framework to the data, I have been able to present answers and build up an analysis. The study concludes that there are more similarities than differences in the integration policy between Moderaterna and Socialdemokraterna. Sverigedemokraterna on the other hand have very radical integration politics in comparison to the two other parties.</p>

Since the 1980s, household debt has been increasing rapidly. The high level of household indebtedness has been accompanied by a high household bankruptcy rate. My research attempts to provide a better understanding of the theoretical mechanisms behind these credit market and bankruptcy statistics. One of the purposes of Chapter 7 bankruptcy law is to improve debtors' work incentives by giving them a ``fresh start''. Chapter 13 bankruptcy, on the other hand, prescribes a repayment plan that garnishes future wages from debtors to repay creditors, which acts like a wage tax in standard models. In the first chapter, I ask the question ``How much does a fresh start increase labor supply by improving work incentives?'' Because the bankruptcy decision is endogenous, Chapter 7 filers tend to have less earnings and more debt than average individuals. Estimation of the change in labor supply as a consequence of the bankruptcy treatment must therefore take into account selection effects which is complicated by the interdependence of labor and credit market decisions. To answer my question quantitatively, I construct a dynamic partial equilibrium job search model with both bankruptcy choices which allows direct assessment of counterfactual outcomes. Competitive financial intermediaries offer a menu of loan sizes and interest rates that make zero profits. The model predicts that in the short run, a fresh start on average increases the labor supply of Chapter 7 bankruptcy filers by 3.5% over repayment and 3.4% over Chapter 13 bankruptcy. the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) dictates that adverse events such as a Chapter 7 bankruptcy must be removed from an individual's credit record after ten years. The intent of the law is to provide partial consumption insurance by giving an individual a fresh start. However, the law obviously weakens incentives not to default, which can result in higher interest rates that in turn reduce intertemporal insurance. Because of this tradeoff, it is unclear what is the optimal length of time that an adverse event should be on an individual's credit record. In the second chapter, I assess the welfare consequences of varying the length of time that adverse events can be on one's credit record. We calibrate the model to US data where the exclusion parameter is for ten years. Then I run a counterfactual to find the length that maximizes ex-ante welfare. I find that the optimal length is much lower, specifically 2.5 years, than the current regulation and that the consumption equivalent welfare gain (slightly over 1%) of such a policy change is large. In the third chapter, I explore how such credit checks (information on observable credit market actions) might help with incentives in labor market when there is a monopolistic employer. According to a Survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (2010), 25% of human resource representatives interviewed in 1998 indicated that the companies they worked for ran credit checks on potential employees while the fraction increased to 43% in 2004 and 60% in 2009. Ever since Holmstrom (1979), we've known that wage contracts can be designed to improve incentives for workers. I show by means of example that if the employer can have wage contracts contingent upon the asset choice of employees, the profit may be increased. However, some employees may be worse off. We may then assess the welfare consequences of a law (the Equal Employment for All Act (H.R. 3149)) prohibiting the use of credit information in employment decisions which currently sits before Congress. / text

The present study examined the extent to which the U.S. STEM labor market is stratified in terms of quality of employment. Through a series of cluster analyses and Chi-square tests on data drawn from the 2008 Survey of Income Program Participation (SIPP), the study found evidence of segmentation in the highly-skilled STEM and non-STEM samples, which included workers with a subbaccalaureate diploma or above. The cluster analyses show a pattern consistent with Labor Market Segmentation theory: Higher wages are associated with other primary employment characteristics, including health insurance and pension benefits, as well as full-time employment. In turn, lower wages showed a tendency to cluster with secondary employment characteristics, such as part-time employment, multiple employment, and restricted access to health insurance and pension benefits. The findings also suggest that women have a higher likelihood of being employed in STEM jobs with secondary characteristics. The findings reveal a far more variegated employment landscape than is usually presented in national reports of the STEM workforce. There is evidence that, while STEM employment may be more resilient than non-STEM employment to labor restructuring trends in the new economy, the former is far from immune to secondary labor characteristics. There is a need for ongoing dialogue between STEM education (at all levels), employers, policymakers, and other stakeholders to truly understand not only the barriers to equity in employment relations, but also the mechanisms that create and maintain segmentation and how they may impact women, underrepresented minorities, and the foreign-born.

Ambitionen med denna uppsats är att kunna ge ett bidrag i kampen för ökad delaktighet i samhället för personer med funktionsnedsättningar. Forskning visar att det är viktigt att personer med psykiska funktionshinder syns ute i arbetslivet för att motverka stigmatiserande effekter. Det visar sig dock att personer med psykiska funktionshinder idag är den grupp som har det svårast att ta sig in på arbetsmarknaden. Syfte är således att öka förståelsen för funktionshindrades situation på arbetsmarknaden. Studien är av kvalitativ art och har genomförts med stöd av intervjuer vilka senare har tolkats utifrån ett intersektionellt perspektiv samt med stöd av teori kring rationalisering (Weber) och teori om social kategorisering (Tideman). Resultatet ger en bild av hur arbetsmarknaden idag genomsyras av rationalisering, effektivisering, flexibilitet och vinststrävan. Med detta följer behov av att finna arbetskraft som kan leva upp till dessa krav. Vidare leder detta till att arbetssökande tenderar att kategoriseras alltmer i termer av funktionsförmåga och effektivitet. Det visar sig dock att situationen kan vara mer komplex än så, då även faktorer som etnicitet, kön, ålder, trosuppfattning och klass har betydelse. Potentiell arbetskraft tenderar att väljas ut inom ramen för vad vi idag betraktar som normalitet men också utifrån vem arbetsgivaren och dennes organisation kan identifiera sig med mest. Stereotypa föreställningar kring människor som indelats i olika sociala kategorier, tycks många gånger vara avgörande när det kommer till vem som får arbete och inte. / This paper aims to provide a contribution in the fight for greater participation in society for persons with disabilities. Research shows that it is important for people with mental disabilities to be seen in the labor market to counter stigmatizing effects. It turns out, however, that people with mental disabilities today is the group that has the most difficulties in entering the labor market. The purpose is to increase an understanding of the situation of disabled people in the labor market. The study is qualitative in nature and is based on interviews that are interpreted by an intersectional perspective, theory of rationalization (Weber) and social categorization (Tideman). The result shows a picture of how the labor market today is permeated by rationalization, efficiency, flexibility and profit endeavor. This brings with it a need to find employees who can meet these requirements. Furthermore, this leads to that job seekers tend to be categorized more in terms of functional capacity and efficiency. It turns out, however, that the situation may be more complex than this, since factors such as ethnicity, gender, age, religion and class matters. Potential labor tends to be selected within the framework of what we now regard as normality but also on who the employer and his organization can identify with most. Stereotypical notions about people, who are divided into different social categories, frequently appear to be crucial when it comes to who gets the job or not.

Teorinė neįgaliųjų socialinio dalyvavimo analizė parodė, kad socialinis dalyvavimas mokslo šaltiniuose traktuojamas, kaip asmenų (šiuo atveju neįgaliųjų) privalumų akcentavimas siekiant atskleisti jų aktyvumą, originalumą įvairiose visuomenės gyvenimo srityse, taigi, ir darbo rinkoje. Remiantis teorine analize, neįgalių asmenų profesinis rengimas - nuolatinis, nenutrūkstamas ugdymo(si) procesas susidedantis iš lygiaverčių pagal reikšmingumą, komponentų: ikiprofesinio ugdymo, pirminio profesinio rengimo, profesinės kvalifikacijos tobulinimo, profesinio perkvalifikavimo, profesinio reabilitavimo siejant neįgaliųjų profesinį rengimą ne tik su profesine adaptacija, bet ir su neįgaliųjų socializacija. Iškelta hipotezė, kad NST patyrusių asmenų į(si)darbinimo poreikiai nerealizuojami arba realizuojami tik iš dalies dėl nepakankamo darbdavių informuotumo apie šių asmenų socioedukacines galimybes ir pačių neįgaliųjų savo galimybių nuvertinimo. Anketinės apklausos metodu buvo atliktas tyrimas, kurio tikslas – atskleisti NST patyrusių asmenų dalyvavimo darbo rinkoje socioedukacinius veiksnius. Tyrimo duomenys apibendrinti statistiniais metodais (aprašomoji statistika, faktorinė ir koreliacinė analizė). Tyrime dalyvavo 311 respondentų, 210 NST patyrusių asmenų ir 101 darbdavys. Empirinėje dalyje nagrinėjami sėkmingo dalyvavimo darbo rinkoje veiksnių tarpusavio ryšiai, NST patyrusių asmenų profesinės motyvacijos veiksniai, dalyvavimo darbinėje veikloje patirtis, pastangos ir pagalbos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Theoretical analysis of social involvement showed that social involvement in scientific sources is regarded as the emphasis of advantages of the persons (particularily disabled persons) when trying to reveal their activity and originality in various spheres of life, which includes labor market as well. On the basis of theoretical analysis, professional training of the disabled is a perennial process of (self) education, which consists of equal components: pre-professional education, primary professional education, improvement of professional qualification, professional re-qualification, professional rehabilitation when relating professional education of the disabled not only with professional adaptation, but with socialization of the disabled as well. Hypothesis of the research is the persons that experienced back’s brain’s traumas (hereinafter – BBT) needs of self (employment) are not realized or are realized only partially due to insufficient privity of the employers about socioeducational possibilities of the disabled as well as their own low self-confidence. Method of questionnaire research has been done. Its aim was to reveal socioeducational factors in labor market of the involvement of the persons that have experienced BBT. The data of the research has been generalized when using statistical methods (descriptive statistics, factor and correlation analysis). 311 respondents participated in the research, 210 of them being the persons that experienced BBT and 1... [to full text]