Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Greifswald.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 250-255). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Recent decades have seen great advances in the methods we use to understand cause and effect in the world of work. Building on that tradition, this dissertation explores two broad topics in econometrics as tools to address specific questions in labor economics. The main econometric contributions are to extend identification results for research designs based on bunching (Chapter 1) and those that make use of instrumental variables (Chapters 2 and 3). The empirical questions that compel them are described below. Chapter 1 examines the effect of overtime regulation on hours of work in the United States, extending a recently popularized technique that uses bunching observed at kinks in agents' choice sets for identification. In the U.S., most workers are required to be paid one-and-a-half times their typical rate of pay for any hours in excess of forty within a week. While prominent and long-standing, this policy has not been meaningfully reformed since it was first established at the federal level in 1938. As a result, few studies have been able to leverage causal research designs to assess its labor market impacts. I use bunching in the distribution of weekly hours at forty--where the policy introduces a convex "kink" in firms' costs--to estimate this effect. To do so, I develop a framework in which bunching at a choice-set kink is informative about causal effects under substantially weaker assumptions than those maintained in existing work. This allows the effect of the overtime policy to be partially identified without making parametric assumptions about firms' objective functions, or about the distribution of hours they would set in the absence of the policy. Using an administrative dataset of weekly hours derived from payroll records, I find that the bounds are informative and that covered hourly workers in the U.S. work an average of at least half an hour less as a result, in affected weeks. Chapter 2 turns to a still-more popular strategy in applied microeconomics: the instrumental variables research design. I propose a new method for estimating causal effects when a researcher has more than one such instrument, and apply it to reassess the labor market returns to college education. The method is motivated by the following issue. When treatment effects are heterogeneous, it is known that instruments can be used to identify local average treatment effects under an assumption known as "monotonicity”. However, when a researcher wishes to use multiple instruments together, this assumption can become quite restrictive, and empirical conclusions may be misleading if it is violated. I propose an alternative assumption that I call "vector monotonicity", which is quite natural in typical settings with multiple instruments. I show that vector monotonicity leads to identification of a useful class of treatment effect parameters, but the two-stage-least-squares estimator popular in applied work does not consistently estimate them. I propose an alternative estimator, and apply it to the classic question of the returns to schooling. I find that the approach based upon vector monotonicity reveals new patterns of heterogeneity in the earnings effect of college education. Chapter 3, with coauthors Ashna Arora and Jonas Hjort, considers the effects of a worker's first job on outcomes later in their career. This is typically a difficult question to answer empirically, as workers entering the labor force are not randomly assigned to employers. We make use of a unique opportunity to study this question in the context of medical residencies in Norway. For decades, medical school graduates in Norway were matched to residencies based on a random serial dictatorship mechanism, in which doctors could choose--in an order determined by lottery--among available positions in the country. We develop an econometric framework in which the random choice set a doctor is presented with provides a collection of instruments for their choice of residency hospital, and hence first job as a doctor. Because we only observe choices and not a doctor’s full preferences, this requires new methods--related to those of Chapter 2. We find persistent effects of a doctor’s first job on earnings, specializations, and mid-career moves. We use the estimates to assess the replacement of the serial-dictatorship by a decentralized labor market in 2013, which we find led to a small increase in resident welfare.

This study seeks to uncover the local social relations of unpaid overtime work of social workers working in non-profit social service organizations in Ontario. Previous research has identified unpaid overtime work performed by social workers as an ongoing labour issue. For example, Baines, MacKenzie Davis, & Saini (2009) found that 71% of social workers surveyed were ‘donating’ one-six hours of time to their jobs a day. Institutional ethnography is used as a theoretical and methodological framework for this inquiry. Accordingly, this research project focuses on uncovering knowledge about the social organization of unpaid overtime work. This knowledge may be useful for those seeking to make specific changes to the organization of the work of social workers to further prevent or eliminate unpaid overtime work. During this study, three Ontario social workers were interviewed about their jobs and unpaid overtime, and provided further written information over email. One particular account of a problematic, or topic for IE research, was not formulated in this thesis as originally intended. However, three accounts of the everyday experience of unpaid overtime work of social workers are presented and could each be used to formulate a problematic for future IE research into this topic. Potential threads of ruling which are visible in the local setting are discussed, with particular emphasis on the ruling relations of non-payment of overtime work. Other potential threads of ruling identified and discussed include the social organization of ‘an endless workload’ and the social organization of social work ethics. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW) / Recent research in Ontario has demonstrated that many social workers who work for non-profit organizations such as government social services or community-based non-profits regularly perform unpaid overtime work. The objective of this study was to understand more about how social workers come to work unpaid overtime hours at their jobs in non-profit social service organizations. To accomplish this, Institutional Ethnography (IE) was used as a theoretical and methodological framework for research. IE is a critical sociology which is used to uncover the social organization of a part of every day life, rather than knowledge about the people who experience it. Studying this research topic contributes to the knowledge of those seeking improved labour justice for social workers. The information discovered in the course of this research about how unpaid overtime work comes to happen for social workers can be useful for those trying to change and prevent unpaid overtime work.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 191-194). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-81).

The diligent working attitude of Taiwanese employees has created miracle in Taiwanese economy. The result of investing too much time in their career does not only affect their psychological well-being but also impact their family dynamic. According to some researches, working overtime does not always bring benefit to the organizations; nevertheless, working overtime is still a widespread phenomenon even though there are labor laws to regulate such behavior in Taiwan, Karoshi is quite common on the news. This research samples knowledge workers to investigate the relationship between employees¡¦ motivations, cognitions, and behaviors of working overtime; the moderating effects specific to job characteristic will be studied as well. Furthermore, we have identified the motivations for work overtime into three main categories: immediate rewards, seeking for career growth potential, and peer pressure from other employees. The first category is immediate rewards, which simply referred to overtime pay or extra vacation days employees earn from working overtime. The second category of motivations to work overtime is to seek for a career growth potential in the near future. By working overtimes, the employees hope the employers can see the dedication employees had put into their work then provide employees opportunities to move onto a higher level position or an increase in compensation. Peer pressure is the third category of motivation for people to work overtime. The employees feel pressure to be the first one to step out off the office while others are still working after their regular work hours. In addition, this research also analyzed the relationship between work performance evaluations and emotions associated with overtime; identifying specific behaviors associated with working overtime by analyzing the relationship between how man overtime hours worked and how often one will need to work overtime. By doing this research, we hope that we hope we can provide a better understanding of the extended hours overtime phenomenon in Taiwan. Through the real example analyses, this research acquires the following results: 1.There is no obvious relation between seeking a career growth potential and employees¡¦ feeling toward overtime; nor there direct connection between motivation for overtime and emotions which associated with working overtime. 2.However, our real example analyses do show a positive relationship between motivation due to peer pressure for working overtime and work performance evaluation for overtime. Nerveless, the research data shows a inverse relation between motivations due to peer pressure for working overtime and emotions associated with working overtime. 3.There is a positive relationship between seeking a career growth potential and hours worked. 4.If one is concerned his/her evaluations from his/her supervisor, then there will be an obvious increasing in his/her overtime working days and hours but there is no connection with the work emotions. 5.The individual control of work will cause negative interference with the motives and the evaluations of overtime working; the feedback and the integrity of work will cause positive interference.

Trots att flera åtgärder genom jämställdhetsplaner på global nivå och lagstiftning harupprättats, samt regler och föreskrifter för organisationer att förhålla sig till finns, kvarstårdet faktum att det är ojämnt fördelat bland män och kvinnor på chefspositioner i dagensorganisationer. Samtidigt visar forskning och statistik, en ojämn fördelning vad gäller ansvaret för hem och barn, där det kan ses att kvinnan tar det största ansvaret. Eftersom det på senare tid redovisats om en övertidsnorm på dagens chefspositioner valdes syftet att belysa och skapa förståelse för problematiken kring den rådande övertidsnormen utifrån ett kvinnligt perspektiv, samt övertidsnormens inverkan på organisationers jämställdhetsarbete inom den privata sektorn i Sverige. För att uppfylla studiens syfte valdes kvalitativa djupintervjuer där respondenternas egna erfarenheter och syn på ämnet efterfrågades. Åtta respondenter deltog i studien och tolkning av empiri i förhållande till vetenskapliga studier visade att övertidsnormen är försvårande för kvinnor som vill inneha chefspositioner. Resultatet visar att respondenterna inte hade haft någon möjlighet att besitta en chefsposition om de inte hade haft en partner som kunde ta ett större ansvar för barnen och hemmet. Resultatet är dock inte generaliserbart eftersom endast åtta respondenter deltagit. Däremot finns en indikation på att övertidsnormen är ett problem som många kvinnor får tampas med. Det fanns även indikationer på att kvinnor drar sig från att söka chefspositioner på grund av oförenligheten med barn som övertidsnormen skapat. Baserat på resultatet drogs slutsatsen att dagens organisationer måste tänka om vad gäller kraven och förväntningarna kring övertid, samt se över arbetsbelastningen på chefspositionerna för att kunna genomföra ett mer hållbart jämställdhetsarbete i framtiden. / Despite that several measures like global gender equal plans and leglisation have been established, and the organizations have rules and regulations to follow, the fact that the managerial positions in organizations is unevenly distributed by men and women remains. At the same time, research and statistics show an uneven distrubution of responsibility for home and children, where women take more responsibility. Lately a norm of overtime has been reported at the managerial positions. Due to that the purpose was chosen to illuminate and create understanding for the problem of the norm of overtime from a womens perspective, and how the norm of overtime effect organizations gender equality work within the private sector in Sweden. Qualitative in-depth interviews with the intention to get the respondents to share their own experiences and thoughts about the subject was chosen to fulfill the purpose of this study. Eight respondents participated in this study and the results showed that women with children have difficulties to have a managerial position because of the norm of overtime. The results also show that women with children need to have a partner that take a greater responsibility for home and children if they should be able to have a managerial position. As this study only contained eight participans the result may not be generalized. Even so the results indicate that the norm om overtime is a problem for many women. The results also indicate that women may avoid a managerial position because of the difficulties to combine the job with children that the norm of overtime has created. Based on the results the conclusion became that if organizations want to have a sustainable gender equality work, they have to rethink. They must change the demands and expectations about overtime and create a reasonable workload for the managers within the organization.

Background: Nursing overtime is being integrated into the normal landscape of practice to ensure optimal staffing levels and address variations in patient volume and acuity. This is particularly true in critical care where fluctuations in either are difficult to predict. Research exploring nurses’ perceptions of the outcomes of overtime has not been conducted, and studies exploring the relationship between nursing overtime and patient outcomes have produced conflicting results. Objectives: This study aims to explore critical care nurses’ perceptions of the outcomes of overtime, their reasons for working or not working it, and to determine the relationship between critical care nursing overtime and specific nurse (sick time) and patient (infections/mortality) outcomes. Methods: This thesis is comprised of two discrete components. Thorne’s interpretive description guided the qualitative component and multilevel regression models tested relationships in the quantitative portion. Qualitative and quantitative methods were selected because of their complementarity and ability to explore both perceptions of overtime in addition to the relationship between nursing overtime and outcomes for nursing staff and their patients. Results: Participants’ reasons for working overtime included: (a) financial gain, (b) helping and being with colleagues, (c) continuity for nurses and patients, and (d) accelerated career development. Their reasons for not working overtime were: (a) tired and tired of being there, (b) established plans, and (c) not enough notice. Major themes highlighting the perceived outcomes of overtime included: (a) physical effects, (b) impact on patient centered care, (c) the issue of respect, (d) balancing family and work, (e) the issue of guilt, (f) financial gain, and (g) safety is jeopardized. Regression analysis revealed that for every 10 hours of nursing overtime, sick time increased by 3.3 hours (p<0.0001). Overtime was not associated with patient outcomes (infections and mortality). Conclusion: There are negative and positive consequences of nursing overtime for nurses and patients. Future research needs to focus on the collection of accurate patient level data, as well as tracking and exploring the effects of unpaid overtime (missed breaks/staying late). Nurses should work to proactively lobby governments to fund adequate staffing in order to reduce the need for overtime and provide safer patient care. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This study explores critical care nurses’ perceptions of the outcomes of working overtime, their reasons for working or not working overtime, and the relationship between nursing overtime and specific nurse and patient outcomes. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used involving 28 nurses on 11 units in three tertiary care academic health science centers. The four original contributions to nursing knowledge are: (a) physical effects overtime has on nurses, (b) feelings of disrespect overtime engenders, (c) loss of patient-centered care that results from overtime, and, (d) the positive relationship between nursing overtime and nursing sick time. Quantitative findings revealed that for every 10 hours of nursing overtime, sick time increased by 3.3 hours (p<0.0001), which participants attested to qualitatively. It will be important to track both paid and unpaid overtime hours per individual nurse to enhance future research, ensure institutional accountability and staff well-being.

1 augusti 2011 upphävdes Arbetsmiljöverkets dispens för uttag av extra mertid och extra övertid. Istället är det nu upp till arbetsgivaren att bedöma ifall det finns särskilda skäl för uttag av extra övertid och extra mertid samt att bedöma att situationen inte går att lösa på annat rimligt sätt. Skyddsombuden får nu som ett led i regleringen möjlighet att göra framställningar till arbetsgivaren om det behövs för att säkerställa att arbetstidslagen följs. Syftet med uppsatsen har varit att ta reda på vilka omständigheter och situationer, som krävs för att en arbetsgivare ska kunna ta ut extra övertid och extra mertid. Uppsatsen beskriver den gällande rätten för uttag av extra övertid och extra mertid. Syftet har också varit att redogöra för hur skyddsombudens befogenheter har påverkats av de nya reglerna kring uttag av extra övertid och extra mertid. Uppsatsen har baserats på en rättsdogmatisk metod, vilket innebär att den har haft sin utgångspunkt utifrån olika befintliga rättskällor. Uppsatsen har varit avgränsad till att endast beröra den ändring som skett i arbetstidslagen och berör inte nödfallsövertid, studerande skyddsombud eller elevskyddsombud. Slutsatser som har dragits är att särskilda skäl för att göra uttag av extra övertid och extra mertid, kan vara tillfälliga arbetsanhopningar som varit omöjliga att förutse, oförutsedda sjukdomsfall eller förlust av spetskompetens som inte gått att ersätta omedelbart. Bedömningen att situationen inte går att lösa på annat rimligt sätt, ska göras i varje enskilt fall. Arbetsgivaren ska se över möjligheter som att rekrytera personal, hyra in personal eller utföra organisatoriska åtgärder för att lösa situationen. Skyddsombuden har sedan tidigare möjlighet att kontrollera arbetstidsfrågor, men endast rätt att agera, då det innebär en risk ur ett arbetsmiljöperspektiv. Nu har det rätt att agera vid minsta övertramp av extra övertid och extra mertid samt möjlighet att begära att arbetsgivaren ska vidta åtgärder.  Ändringen i arbetstidslagen ger skyddsombuden en begränsad rätt att agera, eftersom regeln kan avtalas bort genom kollektivavtal. Den nya regleringen i arbetstidslagen innebär en mindre ökning av skyddsombudens befogenheter. / On August 1, 2011 the Swedish Work Environment Authority repealed their exemption for the take out of extra overtime and extra additional time. It is now up to the employer to determine if there are special reasons for the employee to take out extra overtime and extra additional time and to decide whether the situation has not been able to be solved in any other reasonable way. Currently the safety representatives of the company get the possibility to make suggestions to the employer if needed, to ensure that the Act regulating the working time is enforced. The main purpose of this paper was to determine the circumstances and situations that require an employer to be able to charge extra overtime and extra additional time. The paper describes the established law for the collection of extra overtime and extra additional time. The purpose has also been to explain how the safety representatives’ authority has been affected by the new regulations around the extra overtime and extra additional time. The paper is based on the law of dogmatic approach, which means that it is based on various existing sources of law. The paper has been limited to only concern the change that has occurred in the Act regulating the working time and shall not affect emergency overtime and student safety representatives. The conclusions that has been drawn, is that the special reasons for taking out extra overtime and extra additional time, may be temporary situations of higher workload that were impossible to predict, unforeseen illness or loss of front edge competence that is not possible to replace immediately. In each specific case, an assessment shall been made, to determine that the situation hasn’t been able to be resolved in any other reasonable way. The employer shall review the possibility of recruiting new employees, hire employees from a temporary work agency or implementing organizational arrangements to resolve the situation. The safety representatives already have the authority to control issues regarding working time, but only the authority to act when the working time has developed in to a working environment problem. Now they have the right to act at the slightest infractions of extra overtime and extra additional overtime and the possibility to ask the employer to take action. The amendment to the Act, regulating the working time, provides the safety representatives with a limited right to act, because the rules can be negotiated through collective labor agreements. The new regulations in the Act, regulating the working time, results in a small increase of the safety representatives’ authority.