scholarly journals Corporate Hiring under COVID-19: Labor Market Concentration, Downskilling, and Income Inequality

Author(s):  
Murillo Campello ◽  
Gaurav Kankanhalli ◽  
Pradeep Muthukrishnan
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Bassanini ◽  
Cyprien Batut ◽  
Eve Caroli

2021 ◽  
pp. 107755872110129
Author(s):  
Mark K. Meiselbach ◽  
Matthew D. Eisenberg ◽  
Ge Bai ◽  
Aditi Sen ◽  
Gerard F. Anderson

In concentrated labor markets, where workers have fewer employers to choose from, employers may exploit their monopsony power by contributing less to workers’ health benefits. This study examined if labor market concentration was associated with higher worker contributions to health plan premiums. We combined publicly available data from the Census to calculate labor market concentration and the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Insurance/Employer Component to determine premium contributions from 2010 to 2016 for metropolitan areas. After controlling for year fixed-effects and market characteristics, we found that higher labor market concentration was associated with higher worker contributions to health plan premiums, lower take-home income, and no change in employer contributions to premiums, consistent with the hypothesis that greater labor market concentration is associated with less generous health benefits. When evaluating the effects of mergers and acquisitions on labor markets, regulatory agencies should critically assess worker contributions to health insurance premiums.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 237802312199260
Author(s):  
Ken-Hou Lin ◽  
Carolina Aragão ◽  
Guillermo Dominguez

Previous studies have established that firm size is associated with a wage premium, but the wage premium has declined in recent decades. The authors examine the risk for unemployment by firm size during the initial outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 in the United States. Using both yearly and state-month variation, the authors find greater excess unemployment among workers in small enterprises than among those in larger firms. The gaps cannot be entirely attributed to the sorting of workers or to industrial context. The firm size advantage is most pronounced in sectors with high remotability but reverses in the sectors most affected by the pandemic. Overall, these findings suggest that firm size is linked to greater job security and that the pandemic may have accelerated prior trends regarding product and labor market concentration. They also point out that the initial policy responses did not provide sufficient protection for workers in small and medium-sized businesses.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 1147-1167
Author(s):  
Ensar Yılmaz

Abstract This paper aims to search links between market imperfections and functional income distribution. For this purpose we construct a two-sector model – wage goods and luxury goods producing sectors – incorporating imperfections of the product and labor markets under income inequality. In a structure with interdependent and partially monopolistic and competitive markets, we analytically trace up the effects of the changes in power relations proxied by the degree of mark-ups in the product and labor market. The model shows that price and wage mark-ups in two sectors have crucial income distribution implications for the agents in the economy to varying extents. It also demonstrates the effect of the existence of the differentiated consumption patterns arising from income inequality on income distribution. Furthermore, it seems that unemployment level creates externalities on wage rate and on corporate taxes of firms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-332
Author(s):  
Juan J. Dolado ◽  
Gergő Motyovszki ◽  
Evi Pappa

We provide a new channel through which monetary policy has distributional consequences at business cycle frequencies. We show that an unexpected monetary easing increases labor income inequality between high-skilled and less-skilled workers. To rationalize these findings, we build a New Keynesian DSGE model with asymmetric search-and-matching (SAM) frictions and capital-skill complementarity (CSC) in production. We show that CSC on its own introduces a dynamic demand amplification mechanism: the increase in high-skilled employment after a monetary expansion makes complementary capital more productive, encouraging a further rise in investment demand and creating a multiplier effect. SAM asymmetries magnify this channel. (JEL E32, E52, E24, E12, E25, J63)


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Azar ◽  
Emiliano Huet-Vaughn ◽  
Ioana Elena Marinescu ◽  
Bledi Taska ◽  
Till Von Wachter

2013 ◽  
Vol 04 (01) ◽  
pp. 1350004 ◽  
Author(s):  
RAFAL KIERZENKOWSKI ◽  
ISABELL KOSKE

Despite a general trend of increasing labor income inequality, there have been differences in the timing, intensity and even direction of these changes across OECD countries. These stylized facts have led to numerous studies about the main determinants of labor income inequality and, as a result, a significant revision of the previous consensus about the key drivers. The most researched channels include skill-biased technological change, international trade, immigration, education as well as the role of labor market policies and institutions.


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