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What is there to learn about discrimination in
hiring?
Anti-discrimination policies play an important
role in public discussions. However, identifying discriminatory practices in
the labor market is not an easy task. Correspondence testing provides a
credible way to reveal discrimination in hiring and provide hard facts for
policies, and it has provided evidence of discrimination in hiring across
almost all continents except Africa. The method involves sending matched
pairs of identical job applications to employers posting jobs—the only
difference being a characteristic that signals membership to a group.
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Chronic diseases worsen labor market outcomes,
but firms’ hiring and retention policies can reduce them
Chronic health conditions are a global concern
and can impact labor market outcomes of those diagnosed and their
caregivers. Since the global prevalence of many chronic health conditions is
on the rise, it is important to know what firms can do to retain and hire
workers who are impacted. Firms can improve hiring by addressing biases
against potential employees with chronic health conditions. Furthermore,
firms can retain impacted workers by offering workplace flexibility such as
partial sick leave, work hour flexibility, and part-time work options.
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Strictly controlling overtime hours and pay does
not boost employment—it could even lower it
Regulation of standard workweek hours and
overtime hours and pay can protect workers who might otherwise be required
to work more than they would like to at the going rate. By discouraging the
use of overtime, such regulation can increase the standard hourly wage of
some workers and encourage work sharing that increases employment, with
particular advantages for female workers. However, regulation of overtime
raises employment costs, setting in motion economic forces that can limit,
neutralize, or even reduce employment. And increasing the coverage of
overtime pay regulations has little effect on the share of workers who work
overtime or on weekly overtime hours per worker.
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Job insecurity adversely affects health, but
employability policies and otherwise better job quality can mitigate the
effects
The fear of unemployment has increased around
the world in the wake of Covid-19. Research has shown that job insecurity
affects both mental and physical health, though the effects are lower when
employees are easily re-employable. The detrimental effects of job
insecurity could be partly mitigated if employers improved other aspects of
job quality that support better health. But as job insecurity is felt by
many more people than just the unemployed, the negative health effects
during recessions are multiplied and extend through the majority of the
population. This reinforces the need for effective, stabilising
macroeconomic policies, most especially at this time of pandemic.
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Immigration crowds native workers out of risky
jobs and into less strenuous work, with consequent benefits to their
health
Public debate on immigration focuses on its
effects on wages and employment, yet the discussion typically fails to
consider the effects of immigration on working conditions that affect
workers’ health. There is growing evidence that immigrants are more likely
than natives to work in risky jobs. Recent studies show that as immigration
rises, native workers are able to work in less demanding jobs. Such market
adjustments lead to a reduction in native occupational risk and thus an
improvement in native health.
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Government policies can stimulate female labor
force participation if coherent and well thought-out
Increasing women's labor force participation is
important to sustainable economic development, especially in economies with
highly educated women and an aging population. Women's participation varies
across transition countries, driven by such economic and social factors as
traditional views of gender roles and limited government support for
caregivers. Still, in all countries there is clear scope for policies aimed
at increasing women's participation. In particular, in countries where
women's educational attainment is already high, policies to support a better
work–life balance and female entrepreneurship look particularly
promising.
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Do regulation-induced environmental innovations
affect employment?
New environmental technologies
(environmental/eco-innovations) are often regarded as potential job
creators—in addition to their positive effects on the environment.
Environmental regulation may induce innovations that are accompanied by
positive growth and employment effects. Recent empirical analyses show that
the introduction of cleaner process innovations, rather than product-based
ones, may also lead to higher employment. The rationale is that cleaner
technologies lead to cost savings, which helps to improve firms’
competitiveness, thereby inducing positive effects on their market
shares.
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The desirability of outsourcing the provision
of public services depends on their characteristics and market
conditions
The decision to outsource public provision of
services is multifaceted and context dependent. Doing so tends to lower
labor intensity and increase its efficiency. Costs are usually lower, but
quality problems can affect services like health care, though consumer
choice has stimulated innovation and quality in both education and health
care. Natural monopolies are less suitable for outsourcing, while network
services (public transportation) may be outsourced through public tenders.
Though some jobs may be lost in the short term, the long-term effects are
generally positive for a wide variety of activities.
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The variation of racial wage gaps across and
within groups requires differing policy solutions
In many developed countries, racial and ethnic
minorities are paid, on average, less than the native white majority. While
racial wage differentials are partly the result of immigration, they also
persist for racial minorities of second and further generations. Eliminating
racial wage differentials and promoting equal opportunities among citizens
with different racial backgrounds is an important social policy goal.
Inequalities resulting from differences in opportunities lead to a waste of
talent for those who cannot reach their potential and to a waste of
resources if some people cannot contribute fully to society.
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Basic skills in literacy and numeracy are
essential for success in the labor market
Even in OECD countries, where an increasing
proportion of the workforce has a university degree, the value of basic
skills in literacy and numeracy remains high. Indeed, in some countries the
return for such skills, in the form of higher wages, is sufficiently large
to suggest that they are in high demand and that there is a relative
scarcity. Policymakers need robust evidence in order to devise interventions
that genuinely improve basic skills, not just of new school leavers entering
the market, but also of the existing workforce. This would lead to
significant improvements in the population that achieves a minimum level of
literacy and numeracy.
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