workforce

The study attempts to fill a severe knowledge gap in our understanding of the nature and scope of U.S. production shifts to China and elsewhere. Findings indicate that during 2004, the U.S. will lose as many as 406,000 jobs as they are shifted from the U.S. to other countries. The figure compares to 204,000 jobs in 2001. Nearly one-fourth of the 2004 job losses are expected to go to China. Mexico and India are the other significant beneficiaries of the offshoring trend.

Using data from the Current Employment Statistics survey and the Current Population Survey, the authors produce a comparative analysis of IT labor markets in six key metropolitan areas to examine the state of IT industry employment in the United States.

The authors demonstrate within a matching model that reducing the start-up costs for new firms results in higher take-up rates of education. It also leads, through a thick- market externality, to higher rates of job creation for high-skilled labor as well as average match productivity.

The paper analyzes the performance of Mexican manufacturing firms following trade liberalization within a very specific institutional setting: The North American Free-Trade Agreement. The authors compare plants productivity growth and patterns of job creation and destruction across their relative degree of integration into foreign product markets, their access to technology, and behavior with respect to research and development.

The paper addresses a lack of evidence on the impact of performance pay in the public sector by
evaluating a pilot scheme of incentives in a major government agency. The authors focus on three main issues: whether performance pay matters for public service workers; what the team basis of the scheme implies; and the impact of the differential measurement precision.

The authors hope to provide a tentative
understanding of the processes that have been important for the evolution of the information technology (IT) labour market in India. The paper analyses NASSCOM and National Sample Survey data to explore the processes that deepen
the IT labour market in India.

The authors consider whether disaggregated data enhances the efficiency of aggregate employment forecasts. Findings indicate that incorporating spatial interaction into a disaggregated forecasting
model lowers the out-of-sample mean-squared-error from a unvaried aggregate model by 70 percent at a five-year horizon.

To discuss the impact of demographic and economic trends and the appropriate role for
government in responding to labor force challenges, the Government Accountability Office hosted a forum. While participants debated the extent of future labor shortages and which industries and workers may be affected, they generally agreed that the United States will soon face tight labor markets.

The paper provides a descriptive analysis of the demand for high-skilled workers using a new firm dataset, the IZA International Employer Survey 2000. Results suggest that while workers from EU countries are mainly complements to domestic high-skilled workers, workers from non-EU countries are hired because of a shortage of high-skilled labour.

The survey on Philadelphias college graduates indicates that from a practical standpoint, convincing more non-native college
students to stay is the region’s best way to replenish the thousands of high school
graduates who leave the region for college.