Upjohn Research
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Just Cause Protection Under Manager Discrimination
No full text“Just cause” policies aim to discourage the arbitrary firing of employees. Recent efforts at passing such laws in the U.S. have been motivated by deterring discrimination. This paper presents a framework to study the effects of just cause when managers engage in taste-based discrimination. The framework generates predictions on whether just cause will ease achievement and retention of stable employment by exploiting the timing of separations around a probationary period. Since probationary periods are a typical feature of protections, the approach is generalizable. We test predictions using New York City’s 2021 just cause law for fast-food employees. Using a synthetic difference-in-differences design on publicly available data, we do not find results consistent with taste-based discrimination against black, Hispanic, female, or older workers, though lack of enforcement or data issues could be driving the nulls. Further analysis suggests another mechanism: screening discrimination against younger workers
South Carolina Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessments (RESEA) Randomized Controlled Trial Design Report
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Bargaining and Inequality in the Labor Market
Full text linkWe use novel surveys of firms and workers, linked to administrative employer-employee data, to study the prevalence and importance of individual bargaining in wage determination. We show that simple survey questions accurately elicit firms’ bargaining strategies. Using the elicited strategies for 772 German firms, we document that the majority of firms are willing to engage in individual wage bargaining. Labor market factors predict firms’ strategies better than firm characteristics. Survey responses from nearly 10,000 full-time workers indicate that most worker-firm interactions begin with the worker rejecting the offer and remaining at the incumbent firm. There is substantial heterogeneity in workers’ bargaining behavior, which translates into within-firm wage inequality. Firms that set pay via individual bargaining have a 3 percentage point higher gender wage gap
Strategic Firm Behavior and Worker Outcomes under Advance Notice Regulations
No full textThis study examines how mandatory advance notice requirements for mass layoff events affect both worker outcomes and firm behavior. Using quasi-experimental variation in notice requirements and comprehensive Canadian administrative data, we investigate whether longer mandatory notice periods improve post-displacement outcomes for workers, while also analyzing how firms strategically respond to these requirements. Our preliminary evidence suggests firms manipulate layoff sizes to avoid longer notice periods, potentially undermining the policy’s effectiveness. This research will measure the marginal effect of advanced notice for workers’ employment outcomes, and describe drawbacks associated with existing threshold-type legislation
Safety at Work: Long-Term Trends and the Role of Institutions
No full textEach year, approximately 4 million American workers experience workplace accidents. Occupational injury is prevalent and can have dramatic consequences for workers’ health and labor market outcomes.
The purpose of this study is to provide new evidence on the dynamics of occupational injuries, their evolution over recent decades, and the role of institutions in mitigating their effects. Building on historical, administrative, and survey data from the United States and France, the first part of the project provides new facts on who is most exposed to occupational injuries, what the consequences are for labor market trajectories, and the long-term trends in workplace injuries. The second part of the project explores the role of institutions, including worker representation, safety committees, and taxation, in fostering safer work environments. By leveraging firm-size discontinuities and administrative data on occupational injuries, this analysis quantifies the causal effects of experience rating and worker representation on workplace safety
Employment, the Social Safety Net, and the Dynamics of Homelessness
No full textDespite spending billions of dollars annually on homeless services and housing assistance, we lack systematic evidence on predominant pathways into and out of homelessness in the United States. This project will provide the first quantitatively rigorous, national examination of these pathways using a novel panel dataset of housing statuses built by linking together decennial Censuses, the American Community Survey (ACS), and numerous sources of administrative data. We will examine patterns of transitions between homelessness, conventional housing, correctional facilities, and other institutional settings, as well as patterns of formal employment and safety net benefit receipt surrounding different types of housing transitions. By illuminating the economic circumstances that characterize pathways into and out of homelessness, this project will provide a strong empirical foundation for the design of policies to address this pressing social issue