Social and spatial networks in labour markets

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 722-745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giorgio Topa

Abstract Social connections and referrals are ubiquitous in the labour market, both on the job-seeker side and on the employer side. This article reviews recent developments in the study of referrals, highlighting what we have learned regarding the use and impact of referrals on various labour market outcomes and pointing out the increasingly nuanced picture we are gaining on the effects of referrals. It then discusses directions for future research, emphasizing the importance of using newly available data (and combinations of datasets) and of making tighter connections with the burgeoning macro-labour research that is based on a search and matching framework. Finally, it evaluates the role of referrals from the point of view of policy-makers, discussing their social welfare implications and ways in which they could be explicitly incorporated into various labour market policies. The importance of tighter collaboration between policy-makers, researchers, employers and practitioners is stressed, to conduct more rigorous experimentation and evaluation of potential referral-based policies and programmes.

2009 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-150
Author(s):  
Djily Diagne

School violence has become a serious public health issue during the last two decades. Consequently, researchers and policy makers have made substantial efforts to understand its causes and consequences and to identify effective methods to reduce its occurrence. While psychologists and other education researchers have long been active in school violence research, the topic has really been explored by economists only in recent years. This paper presents some evidence on this issue drawn from the growing economics literature and related disciplines. It shows that the phenomenon has an adverse effect on the level of educational attainment and labour market outcomes. Hence, reducing violence at schools not only eases life for many students who suffer because of it, but should also lead to more investment in human capital. Finally, some suggestions for future research are provided.


2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 459-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Bridges ◽  
David Lawson ◽  
Sharifa Begum

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jogaila Vaitekaitis

Aim. The main objective of this investigation is to explore perceived lack of Lithuanian STEM labour force supply. It is often believed that education systems are the bottleneck of economic growth and that by increasing the supply of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) graduates we will get more and better payed jobs. But a growing body of evidence suggests that in many STEM fields there is an adequate supply or even oversupply of STEM majors. Still, technologically advanced capitalist countries advocate for more STEM workforce regardless of an overcrowded market. Echoing foreign neoliberal trends, Lithuanian education policy makers are on the same STEM shortage hype-train, and reforms are full steam ahead. Methods. To explore perceived lack of Lithuanian STEM labour force supply an assessment of STEM graduates’ (n=3720) occupational destinations one year after graduation and average salaries in those professions was conducted employing a descriptive statistical analysis. Results. Findings show that there is no general shortage of STEM labour supply; the majority (54% n=2023) of all recent STEM degree holders in Lithuania do not work in STEM jobs. The majority of graduates usually do not reach national average income one year after graduation. Conclusions. Persuasion of students to study STEM degrees based on better labour market outcomes is misleading and possibly unethical. The principal theoretical implication of this paper is the acknowledgment that low STEM graduate employment does not necessarily signify a failing education system. Rather, this is an opportunity to look beyond human capital and labour market discourse which, arguably, prevents STEM education to realize its revolutionary potential.


2022 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara H. Mulder ◽  
Isabel Palomares-Linares ◽  
Sergi Vidal

Migration is often viewed as a way to enhance occupational careers. However, particularly in Mediterranean countries, labour market outcomes may also depend on local family resources. We investigate how men’s and women’s labour market outcomes differ between (1) those who migrated and those who did not; and (2) those who live close to family and those who live farther away. Our main contributions are the investigation of the association between migration and labour market outcomes in a different context than the more commonly studied Northern and Western European countries and the United States, and of the role of living close to family in labour market outcomes. We used a sample of labour market participants from the “Attitudes and Expectations About Mobility” survey, conducted in Spain in 2019. Our results show that the likelihood of being a professional is greater for women who migrated than for those who did not, and that the likelihood of being unemployed or in a temporary job is lower for women who live close to family than for those who do not, but neither association was found for men. The finding for living close to family is in line with the notion that nearby family may protect women in particular from precarious labour market positions. The finding for migration differs from previous findings for Northern and Western Europe and the United States, which indicate that migration is beneficial to men in particular. This difference might be specific to a low-migration context, but data limitations prevent firm conclusions.


2021 ◽  
pp. 749-766
Author(s):  
Jennifer Hook ◽  
Leah Ruppanner

This chapter reviews the quantitative, cross-nationally comparative literature investigating the effects of welfare states on gendered social landscapes in high-income OECD countries. It begins by reviewing the data, measures, and methodological approaches used in the literature. It then reviews research on the ‘effects’ of welfare states on gendered (a) labour market outcomes; (b) divisions of household labour and childcare; and (c) well-being. The authors conclude that welfare states play a key role in shaping gender inequality within the labour market and the home, with important consequences for well-being. Finally, the authors conclude with an assessment of limitations and prospects for future research.


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