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<p>The so called "Labour Surplus" economies represent a subset of the less developed countries of the world that have failed to overcome the Malthusian barrier of a population explosion. The economic and demographic history of this group of countries seems to indicate that in the peculiar circumstances of these countries, the traditional "GNP maximization" approach to development cannot spontaneously generate a socially acceptable rate of growth of employment. The concern, in this thesis ,. toward the allocative consequences of an "employment maximizing" development strategy arose from the massive backlog of unemployed human resources in one such labour-surplus economy, namely Bangladesh. The static and dynamic consequences £0+ resource allocation of an employment maximizing development policy are studied within the framework of a dynamic, multisectoral, linear programming planning model.</p> <p>Since an employment-oriented development strategy is likely to lower the overall growth of the economy, implying a possible conflict between employment and other social goals, a major part of the effort in this thesis is devoted to the study of the optimal patterns of allocation under alternative social goals and under alternative forms of~ecification of these goals. The conflict between the employment and the consumption objectives are explicitly brought out by using the model to generate possible trade-off paths between . these two long-run development goals. The model is also used to study the production and distributional consequences of alternative assumptions regarding labour market distortions that are reflected in wide wage-differentials between the agricultural and the non-agricultural sectors of the economy.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The purpose of this study is to explore the influence on urban employment patterns of changes in demand for commodities by foreign and domestic consumers. Foreign induced changes in commodity demand are reflected in this study by assumed changes in exports of selected comma-· dity groupss ranging from relatively unprocessed groups such as grain, to sophisticated groups such as electrical products and chemicals. The domestic sources of commodity demand change considered in this study are various components of current expenditure by the federal government on health, education and defense programs, as well as on total government expenditure. The influence of these sources of final demand change is traced to the employed populations of Montreal and Toronto metropolitan areas, and the component districts of these urban areas. An important concern is with whether or not some shocks tend to alleviate or accentuate existing unemployment rate disparities between the central city and fringe of Montreal and Toronto. A national input-output system, together with an appended employment allocation matrix is utilized to estimate the urban employment impacts. The area impacts differ because, on the one hand, employment in some industries is affected more than in others, depending on the particular source of final demand change assumed, and on the other hand the proportion of an area's employed population affiliated with a given industry tends to differ from that of other areas. Before implementing the model the latter proposition~ concerning inter-area differences in industrial affiliation pattern of the employed) is supported by theoretical reasoning and empirical analysis. Theoretically different industries have different locational preferences in an urban area, as a result of factors related to technology, cost of production, and market access. Combined with the theoretical assumption concerning minimization of cost and/or distance of travel to work, area differences in the proportion of workers affiliated with a given industry is implied. This hypothesis is not rejected by analysis of variance experiments based on the pattern of male and female employed populations residing in districts of Montreal and Toronto. Adjusted census statistics on the employed population are used in these experiments the adjustment being required in order to make the urban portion of the model consistent with the 1961 input-output system. Implementation of the model reveals that the metropolitan areas of Montreal and Toronto are influenced to similar degrees by the assumed changes in various components of final demand, but that certain sub-metro areas were affected more than others. There is a tendency for suburban and wealthier areas to be affected more than central and less affluent districts though there are important exceptions. Some components of final demand change tend to accentuate existing intra-urban unemployment disparities. It is finally shown how the area impact disaggregated by subpopulation can be used to identify structural factors responsible for inter-area differences in the total impact. The disaggregated impacts also reveal qualitative, or distributional aspects of the aggregate impacts and thus may be of interest to urban planners. It is possibles for example, to check if female or male employees, affiliated with a lower paying industry group, and resident in a relatively poor district of the city, is influenced more than average by a particular type of final demand change. The limitations and possible extensions are finally reviewed. One limitation involves the assumption that given the industry, subpopulations of the employed are discharged at similar rates when there is a fall in product demand. The theory treating labour as a quasifixed factor implies that the lower grades of labour would be discharged at higher rates than the higher grades. Any bias due to the omission of this effect would reinforce the results related to intra-urban unemployment rate disparities, however. Future research suggested by this study include incorporation of the discriminatory discharge effect into the model and further disaggregation of the work force of industries according to occupation or income group. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This dissertation examines whether a degree earned abroad is less valuable for Asianimmigrants in the U.S. labor market than for White immigrants and, if so, the reasons for such disparities. Many studies have documented the existence of a foreign education penalty. However, the underlying mechanisms for the lower returns to foreign education are still being determined. Building on the demographic heterogeneity framework, this study aims to advance our understanding of immigrants’ experience in the labor market by investigating whether the lower earnings returns for Asian immigrants with foreign education stem from lower educational quality/transferability, as suggested by the human capital approach, or from biased practices in the labor market, as proposed by credentialism. Methodologically, this study will compare the earnings outcomes of Asian immigrants to those of U.S.-born Whites as well as foreign-educated white immigrants. Using ACS data from 2015-2019 on White and Asian workers aged 25-64 with bachelor’s degrees or higher, I analyze the impact of STEM majors and the English-speaking proficiency of the sending country to explore the effect of human capital transferability. Then, I examine the effect of a country’s GDP per capita and the rates of tertiary education to capture the effect of educational quality. To access credentialism, I compare the earnings differences for Asian immigrants who earn degrees in regions more culturally or historically similar to the U.S. to those degrees earned in other regions. Then, I examine the residual earnings difference between foreign-educated White and Asian immigrants to access queuing theory. Finally, I separate the study population into subsamples of men and women to investigate whether Asian immigrants’ labor market disadvantages are contingent on gender. Chapter 2 to 5 can be read as a stand-alone study that uses nationally representative survey data to study the aspects listed above. Results from these analyses show that the earnings disadvantage of Asian immigrants educated in foreign countries is largely due to the limited transferability of their human capital in the U.S. labor market rather than to credentialism. Returns to foreign education are higher for immigrants with STEM degrees or from countries where English is an official language. In addition to the human capital transferability, this study also shows that White immigrants seem to have an advantage over Asian immigrants if they were educated in places with longer linguistic and cultural differences compared to the United States. In addition, my findings support the explanation that female immigrants’ varied family experiences and migration paths are different from those of their male counterparts, thus leading to their notable disadvantages in the labor markets. The results indicate that establishing clear and transparent processes for recognizing foreign academic and professional credentials is a critical way to alleviate the lower returns on Asian immigrants’ foreign credentials. / Sociology

Thesis advisor: Joanna Venator / This paper explores the impact of Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs on wage outcomes in the U.S. labor market, particularly against a backdrop of shifting economic conditions and workforce needs. The study delves into how various CTE programs, specifically state-approved programs with stringent standards and federally- approved programs with more flexible requirements, shape the wage trajectories of high school students. The analysis is structured in two main phases: the first phase involves a detailed mapping of CTE courses to real-world occupations as categorized by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), highlighting the alignment -- or lack thereof -- between educational offerings and labor market demands. The second phase employs an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression with fixed effects to analyze the influence of CTE program participation on wage outcomes across different industry sectors and counties. This approach allows for a nuanced examination of how local industry definitions affect the perceived effectiveness of CTE programs and underscores the complex trade-offs involved in prioritizing vocational training for immediate employment versus broader educational and career advancement opportunities. The findings reveal significant variability in the impact of CTE programs on wages, influenced by the specificity of job sectors and the breadth of skills taught, with implications for policy decisions aimed at enhancing the role of vocational education in fostering economic mobility. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Morrissey School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics. / Discipline: Departmental Honors.