86,727 research outputs found
Job polarisation in the Italian labour market
No full textThis paper investigates ICT-driven polarisation of occupations and wages in the Italian labour market. Contrary to most contributes in the literature the cognitive content of occupations is assessed by associating to each job an index that assesses the frequency of relational and analytical tasks rather than by opposing the orthogonal concepts of manual and abstract tasks. In addition, the intensity of cognitive tasks and the frequency of routine tasks are measures based on in-field surveys rather than on standard manuals for occupations classification. The outcomes of the empirical analysis do not support the hypothesis of a significant shift of occupation in favour of less routine jobs. Nevertheless, between 2004 and 2015 some signals exist of a wage polarisation that penalises occupations with high frequency of both routine tasks and cognitive tasks. In 2015 the use of ICT at the workplace significantly and positively moderate the economic return to the intensity of abstract tasks. ICT use is also a significant but negative moderator of the economic return to the frequency of routine tasks
The return to recognition of prior learning: An analysis of the Portuguese case
No full textIn the first decade of this century subsequent Portuguese governments promoted two large programmes (RVCC Centres, 2001-2005, and Novas Oportunidades, 2006-2010) aimed at improving the educational qualifications of the adult population by means of an extended network of centres in charge of apprising prior and experiential learning. Based on the Quadros de Pessoal survey this paper assesses the wage return to the recognition of prior learning promoted by the RVCC Centres and the Novas Oportunidades programmes by means of DID-PSM estimates. The outcomes of the empirical analysis outline non-negative wage effects from participation in recognition of prior learning compared to traditional formal adult education. However, the path undertaken to upgrade individual qualification matters. Participation in recognition of prior learning under the RVCC Centres initiative resulted in no significant wage increases compared to formal adult education, whereas differentials became mostly positive and statistically significant under the Novas Oportunidades programme
The Effectiveness of Remedial Courses: The CAse of Undergraduate Students in Industrial Engineering
No full textUnder-preparation is one of the main causes behind poor academic performance by under-graduate students. Higher education institutions often launch remedial courses as an inclusive solution to help academically deprived freshmen fill their knowledge gaps. However, the substantial resources absorbed by remedial courses raise recurrent concerns about their suitability. This paper exploits 2012-2016 administrative data from a medium-size university in Northern Italy to appraise the effectiveness of the remedial courses undertaken by newly enrolled students in industrial engineering who fail to achieve the entry test cut-off score.
The outcomes of the empirical analysis provide an articulated picture. The two-year drop-out rate of students who successfully complete a remedial course is not statistically different from that of nonremedial students, whereas significant differences persist in the number of earned credits. However, in two years also this difference disappears when the control group restricts to students who could enrol in an undergraduate course without need for remedial education thanks to a performance just above the cut-off scor
Girls in a man's world and boys in a woman’s world: What impact on wages and training?
No full textPay and training gaps between women and men have been explained by gender segregation at work, i.e., the tendency for men and women to cluster in different workplaces, occupations, and jobs. Nevertheless, this hypothesis overlooks the nature and the quality of the working activity performed by (possibly segregated) men and women. In addition, the empirical literature provides mixed evidence about gender as a driver of participation in training.
An opportunity to explore this question from a novel point of view is provided by the OAC survey conducted by INAPP, the Italian National Institute for the Analysis of Public Policies, in 2004. This dataset provides extensive information on a representative sample of Italian employees, including a question on gender prevalence in one’s job. Available data allow to explore whether men segregated into “female jobs” receive less training or get lower earnings compared to man into “neutral” or “male” jobs. At the same time, it is possible to investigate to what extent women into “male jobs” enjoy a premium in terms of reward and training compared to women in different jobs.
Preliminary outcomes suggest three basic facts. First, gender segregation cuts across occupations and workplaces. Second, a negative wage gap affects all groups of women, independently of the nature of the performed job. In the case of men, individuals in female-dominated jobs suffer a significant wage penalty (about 11% compared to men in other types of job). Third, outsiders (i.e., women in male jobs and men in female jobs) enjoy a higher probability of participating in training compared to individuals of the opposite sex in the same type of job. However, male employees always display higher participation in training in non-gendered jobs
The effectiveness of remedial courses: new evidence from undergraduate students in industrial engineering
No full textRemedial courses may support under-prepared candidates for higher education, but their effectiveness is still questioned especially in European countries, where their introduction is comparably recent. This paper implements a doubly robust estimator to account for heterogeneity between remedial and nonremedial students and possible noncompliance with the assigned remediation. Data on five cohorts of undergraduates in industrial engineering from an Italian university show average worse performances of remedial students. However, remedial students who complete the remedial path catch up in two years with the dropout rate of average nonremedial students and with the credits earned by the weakest nonremedial students
The return to improved educational qualifications. An analysis of the Portuguese case
No full textAn educated labour force is increasingly perceived as a crucial resource to support technology-intensive and knowledge-intensive growth in industrialised countries. The emphasis on the skills and competences of employees goes along with the importance attached to a progressive enlargement and deepening of individual capabilities able to meet the evolution of workplace requirements. The switch from a clear-cut separation between education and working life to an overlapping of educational and training experiences centred on the concept of lifelong learning involves noteworthy consequences. First, formal education and training become two opportunities in a range of multiple learning sources that also include non-formal learning and informal learning (European Commission, 2000). Second, adult education (including formal, non-formal, and informal learning) turns into a viable means to improve the skills and competences of the existing labour force (Colardyn and Bjornalvold, 2004).
Despite prospecting an attractive opportunity to improve the quality of existing labour stocks, adult education involves huge public investment but prospects uncertain returns in a comparatively distant future. Significant doubts exist on the effectiveness of adult education in improving the labour market outcomes of participating employees, for instance by augmenting career opportunities and earnings.
The Portuguese case provides an interesting chance to assess the short-, medium-, and long-term effects of upgrading individual educational achievements. Starting from year 2000 subsequent Portuguese governments supported a range of initiatives aimed at improving the educational qualification of the labour force in Portugal by means of adult education, validation and certification of individual competences, and accomplishment of education curricula interrupted by young adults. The efforts of subsequent Portuguese governments developed across two main steps. The first phase (2001-2005) focused on basic educational qualifications (corresponding to the completion of the 4th grade, the 6th grade, and the 9th grade of Portuguese curricula) whereas the second phase, labelled “Novas Oportunidades initiative”, involved the certification of competences corresponding to both basic and secondary education (up to the 12th grade of Portuguese curricula).
Also when new educational qualifications were achieved by means of validation and certification of existing competences, i.e., without acquiring additional capabilities, participants in the program were expected to increase their career opportunities thanks to better signalling in the labour market. In addition, participants also had the chance to develop new skills by joining adult education courses to fulfil drawbacks in their competence portfolio identified during the certification process.
Judgement of the program outcomes is still controversial. On the one hand, the initiative had a sizable impact on the Portuguese labour market. Over 400.000 Portuguese adults achieved a higher educational qualification between 2006 and 2011 (Sistema de Informação e Gestão da Oferta Educativa e Formativa). In addition, in a sample of participants 32% recognised a positive impact of the Novas Oportunidades initiative on their professional life (CEPCEP, 2010). On the other hand, preliminary analyses displayed very small effects of the initiative on employability and even negative effects on earnings (Lima et al., 2012).
Quadros de Pessoal (QdP), a longitudinal archive of linked employer-employee data on the Portuguese labour market, offers a rich testbed to provide a new assessment of the impact of improved educational qualifications on the labour market outcomes of adult employees in Portugal in the first decade of this century. The proposed analysis searches for systematic differences between earnings increases and job improvements achieved by employees who upgraded their educational qualification and a control group of employees who did not change their educational certificates. In addition, the effectiveness of the efforts enacted by Portuguese governments after 2000 is testes by comparing participants and non-participants in adult education in three distinct period:
• a reference period before the launch of the Novas Oportunidades initiative (1996-2000);
• the first phase of the program aimed at improving labour force education in Portugal (2001-2005);
• the second phase of the Novas Oportunidades initiative (2006-2010).
Preliminary evidence shows overall increase of educational levels, also due to adult education and competence validation and certification programs; steeper increase of education levels in the years of Novas Oportunidades compared to the baseline period; faster wage growth for participants; and higher job mobility for employees who improved their educational qualifications
La polarizzazione del lavoro nell’era digitale: un’analisi empirica del caso italiano
No full textUna caratteristica distintiva delle tecnologie dell’informazione e della comunicazione (Information and Communication Technologies - ICT) risiede nella loro natura pervasiva, ossia nella capacità di trovare applicazione non solo in tutto lo spettro delle attività manifatturiere e di servizi, ma anche nei più svariati ambiti della vita quotidiana (Jovanovic e Rousseau, 2005). Questa caratteristica determina due fenomeni peculiari che si accompagnano alla diffusione delle ICT con conseguenze rilevanti nel mercato del lavoro. Da un lato continua a crescere una domanda di competenze digitali trasversale rispetto a occupazioni e settori di attività (OECD, 2016). Dall’altro lato si assiste a una crescente polarizzazione del mercato del lavoro fra mansioni di alto e basso profilo, a scapito delle professionalità intermedie (Michaels et al., 2014). Tale polarizzazione discende direttamente dalla natura programmabile delle ICT, che ne rende possibile ed economicamente conveniente l’utilizzo per automatizzare attività information-intensive ma codificabili, ossia le attività che più frequentemente rientrano nelle mansioni svolte dalle posizioni di medio livello. Risulta invece più costoso e meno efficace sostituire il lavoro degli addetti tramite soluzioni ICT quando le mansioni prevedono compiti più difficilmente codificabili in routine e procedure. Questo è vero sia nel caso di attività cognitive analitiche e relazionali, tipiche delle posizioni che richiedono le competenze più elevate, sia, all’estremo opposto della distribuzione dei ruoli lavorativi, nel caso di compiti incentrati sulla fornitura di sforzo fisico più che intellettuale in ambienti però scarsamente strutturati, prevalenti fra gli addetti con basse competenze (Autor et al., 2003).
Il quadro tratteggiato suscita numerosi quesiti circa le direttrici di evoluzione dei mercati del lavoro, a livello macro-economico, e delle pratiche di gestione delle risorse umane adottate a livello di singola impresa per accompagnare e gestire i fenomeni in atto. L’attenzione dedicata anche dai mezzi di comunicazione di massa alla possibilità di un “futuro senza lavoro” in cui le macchine provvedono non solo alla produzione di beni materiali, ma anche alla elaborazione di contenuti (Magnani, 2017), con rilevanti rischi di ulteriore polarizzazione nella distribuzione della ricchezza (Elliott, 2016) sottolinea l’esigenza di analisi scientifiche dedicate a chiarire la consistenza e la portata dei fenomeni in atto anche nel nostro Paese. Questo articolo vuole quindi verificare se è possibile ravvisare nel mercato del lavoro italiano una polarizzazione delle professioni rispetto alla complessità dei contenuti delle mansioni e alla distribuzione delle retribuzioni. Si vuole inoltre indagare se tale polarizzazione appare correlata in misura significativa all’utilizzo delle tecnologie dell’informazione e della comunicazione sul posto di lavoro.
L’analisi empirica si avvale di due indagini statistiche effettuate dall’INAPP (l’Istituto Nazionale per l’Analisi delle Politiche Pubbliche) presso campioni statisticamente rappresentativi del lavoro dipendente in Italia. La prima indagine è contenuta nell’archivio “Organizzazione, Apprendimento, Competenze” (OAC), che riguarda 3.605 interviste effettuate nel 2004 in Italia presso un campione rappresentativo di addetti nel comparto privato dell’industria manifatturiera e dei servizi e raccoglie informazioni sulle condizioni lavorative e sull’esperienza nel mercato del lavoro. La seconda fonte informativa è offerta dalla rilevazione 2010 sulla Qualità del Lavoro (QdL) in Italia. La QdL è un’indagine periodica che raccoglie informazioni su diverse dimensioni connesse alla qualità dell’esperienza lavorativa, includendo la condizione lavorativa degli occupati, gli obiettivi e le pratiche organizzative delle aziende, le esigenze dei lavoratori e le opportunità di formazione e sviluppo di competenze. L’edizione 2010 include un campione di 5.004 occupati nel settore pubblico e privato.
Le analisi statistiche presentate nell’articolo mostrano, anche all’interno del breve intervallo di tempo considerato, segnali di polarizzazione delle occupazioni nel mercato del lavoro italiano in funzione del grado di complessità delle mansioni. La diffusione delle tecnologie digitali risulta inoltre cresciuta a tassi superiori fra le occupazioni non routinarie, per quanto riguarda i profili professionali più qualificati, e fra le occupazioni routinarie, nel caso dei profili professionali meno complessi, suggerendo così un impatto differenziato delle ICT in funzione dei contenuti della mansione. I processi di polarizzazione riscontrati non appaiono però chiaramente collegati alle dinamiche retributive
Graduates in graduate jobs? A comparison between younger and older graduates from higher ed-ucation in Portugal
No full textGraduates from tertiary education transformed the Portuguese labour markets in the recent decades. Private sector employees holding a higher education (HE) certificate ramped up from 8.5% in 2002 to 19.8% in 2017. However, in the same period the wage of HE graduates aged 24-28 plunged from 39% to 35% compared to graduates aged 54-58. Based on Quadros de Pessoal, an annual survey on Portuguese employers and employees, this paper explores what factors justify the declining returns to education for younger HE graduates. Besides taking into consideration employment quality, including employment and contractual conditions, the analysis accounts for work quality. A match with the US O*Net classification of occupations allows capturing the nature of tasks performed by older and younger graduates, thus measuring the graduateness of occupations. The results show that change in the occupation graduateness of younger HE graduates is a positive and significant determinant of change in relative wages
Wage policy
No full textPapers reporting the main outcomes of the FCT-sponsored FLEX project (PTDC/EGE-ECO/108547/2008
The Value of Transferable Skills
No full textMost studies on skill transferability focus on the return to capabilities developed in the initial job and disregard the different characteristics of the origin and the destination industries. In contrast, this paper assesses the borders of skill transferability by comparing the return to skills for firm stayers, firm changers in the same industry and firm changers to other industries. Based on a sample of Portuguese employees in retail banking, our results confirm significant inter-firm and inter-industry skill transferability. Difference-in-differences estimates with propensity score matching show that firm switchers benefit from a wage premium compared to firm stayers. However, the wage premium drops sharply when movers leave the banking sector
- …
