workforce

This paper investigates the effects of the introduction of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on the skills of a workforce. Using micro-data collected from workers in the textile sector, the authors analyse whether the introduction of ICTs has modified workers’ tasks, so that higher skills and longer training periods than before are necessary.

According to the survey, 224 companies identified a total of 4,810 job vacancies within 18 months and 4,499 job vacancies which will be available in the next three years, for a total of 9,309 job vacancies from 2005 - 2008. Survey results were obtained by distributing a comprehensive job market survey to 1,015 employers throughout the seven counties of Northeast Pennsylvania.

The study rates working environments in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., in terms of average pay, employment opportunities, employee benefits, percentage of low-income workers, fair treatment between genders and ability for employees to unionize. A major finding of the study is a consistent correspondence between the quality of a states environment for workers and its economic health.

The author uses a new data set of 24 large, labor-exporting countries using estimates of migration and educational attainment based on United States and OECD records. He uses these new data to address the key policy question: How pervasive is the brain drain from labor-exporting countries?

Employment rates in Puerto Rico range from 55 to 65 percent of U.S. rates during the past thirty years. This huge employment shortfall holds for men and women, cuts across all education groups, and is deeper for persons without a college degree. The shortfall is concentrated in the private sector, especially labor-intensive industries that rely heavily on less educated workers.

The author estimates of separation rates and job-finding rates for the past 50 years, using historical data informed by detailed recent data. The separation rate is nearly constant while the job-finding rate shows high volatility at business-cycle and lower frequencies.

This paper uses the Italian Social Security employer-employee panel to study the effects of the Italian reform of 1990 on worker and job flows. The authors find that the increase in dismissal costs decreased accessions and separations for workers in small relative to big firms, especially in sectors with higher employment volatility.

The model developed in this paper explains differences in the division of labour across firms as a result of computer technology adoption. The authors find that changes in the division of labour can result both from reduced production time and from improved communication possibilities.

Corporate governance literature argues that board diversity is potentially positively related to firm performance. This study examines the relationship in the case of women in top executive jobs and on boards of directors using data for the 2500 largest Danish firms observed during the period 1993-2001.

Over the past 30 years, the share of adult populations with college degrees increased more in cities with higher initial schooling levels than in initially less educated places. This tendency appears to be driven by shifts in labor demand as there is an increasing wage premium for skilled people working in skilled cities. In this paper, the authors present a model where the clustering of skilled people in metropolitan areas is driven by the tendency of skilled entrepreneurs to innovate in ways that employ other skilled people and by the elasticity of housing supply.