Workdays, Workhours, and Work Schedules: Evidence for the United States and Germany

Daniel S.Hamermesh

W.E. Upjohn Institute

Safety Practices, Firm Culture, And Workplace Injuries

In 2001, there were approximately 3.7 fatal workplace injuries per 100,000 workers (including 9/11), workers made 2.1 million trips to the emergency room, and workersâ compensation insurance cost employers $63.9 billion. In addition, the indirect costs of workplace accidentsâ"lost wages, equipment damage, and training and rehabilitationâ"were several times this amount. Despite the fact that human resource management (HRM) practices can directly affect the severity and costs of such accidents, HRM is usually seen as an auxiliary function that contributes nothing to a firmâs output. 
Richard J. Butler and Yong-Seung Park hope to draw attention to this oversight by presenting analysis of the impact of various HRM practices on firmsâ workersâ compensation costs; specifically, which practices lower firmsâ workersâ compensation costs and whether the impact is the result of changes in technical efficiency or comes through induced changes in workersâ behavior. 
The authors divide HRM practices into two groups: 1) practices that a firm can unilaterally adopt that do not necessarily involve the workers in either the financial or the strategic management of the firm, and 2) practices that increase workersâ involvement in the firm in one or both of these dimensions. The first group of practices includes the degree of management involvement with the safety efforts of the firm and the level of information sharing by management. The second group includes the number of programs that allow employees to participate in the financial returns of the company, the number of programs that allow employees to participate in their firmsâ strategic planning, and the intensity of employeesâ involvement in this strategic planning. 
Traditional models of firm behavior ignore such HRM practices, assuming management simply chooses labor and capital to maximize firmsâ profits. Management is also assumed to know everything that workers know about their own behavior and about their firmsâ technology. But, as Butler and Park point out, this is not realistic. Asymmetric information, where, for example, employees have knowledge that is difficult or costly for management to obtain, is common. Therefore, the authors develop a new model of safety outcomes that incorporates HRM practices. They estimate this model using data on an important outcome -- safety costs. Their results show that HRM practices do affect employees' injury claims, may help reduce injury claim frequency, and can reduce injury-claim severity. Furthermore, they weigh in on the question of whether these results occur because HRM practices are improving technical efficiency or because HRM practices are reducing disability benefits consumption associated with asymmetric information. 
Butler and Park conclude with a set of policy implications for firms, workers, and workersâ compensation policy.

Safety Practices, Firm Culture, and Workplace Injuries

Butler, Richard J.

Job Training That Gets Results: Ten Principles of Effective Employment Programs

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Business & Money

Michael S. Bernick

Management & Leadership

Licensing Occupations: Ensuring Quality or Restricting Competition?

The licensing of occupations is often seen as stealth regulation that operates under the public policy radar screen. Unlike other labor market institutions, such as laws regulating unions or the minimum wage, the regulation of occupations has received little attention from the press, academics, or policymakers. 
However, this lack of attention is not because occupational licensing is diminishing in the labor market. Since the 1950s, licensing coverage has grown from about 5 percent of the workforce to more than 20 percent, while unions have declined from about a third of the workforce to less than 13 percent, and to less than 8 percent in the private sector. In addition, approximately 50 occupations are licensed in all states, and about 800 occupations are similarly regulated in at least one state. 
This pathbreaking book reveals the impacts of occupational licensing on the economies of the United States and several EU countries. Kleiner provides a thorough and up-to-date examination of the costs and benefits of occupational licensing (OL). He offers an explanation for the growth of OL, defines the winners and losers in terms of earnings and the quality of services provided by licensees, compares the differing labor market and price impacts of OL in the United States and Europe, provides evidence on the overall net impacts of OL for society, and offers policy alternatives to OL.

Morris M. Kleiner

The licensing of occupations is often seen as stealth regulation that operates under the public policy radar screen. Unlike other labor market institutions, such as laws regulating unions or the minimum wage, the regulation of occupations has received little attention from the press, academics, or policymakers. However, this lack of attention is not because occupational licensing is diminishing in the labor market. Since the 1950s, licensing coverage has grown from about 5 percent of the workforce to more than 20 percent, while unions have declined from about a third of the workforce to less than 13 percent, and to less than 8 percent in the private sector. In addition, approximately 50 occupations are licensed in all states, and about 800 occupations are similarly regulated in at least one state. This pathbreaking book reveals the impacts of occupational licensing on the economies of the United States and several EU countries. Kleiner provides a thorough and up-to-date examination of the costs and benefits of occupational licensing (OL). He offers an explanation for the growth of OL, defines the winners and losers in terms of earnings and the quality of services provided by licensees, compares the differing labor market and price impacts of OL in the United States and Europe, provides evidence on the overall net impacts of OL for society, and offers policy alternatives to OL.

Economics

The Performance of Performance Standards

Incentives and accountability for government performance are central to contemporary government reform agendas across the globe. Still, the lessons on intended and unintended effects of incentive and performance management systems from several decades of research and practice do not appear to be reflected in the current design and implementation of these systems in the public sector. 
 This conundrum serves as motivation for the contributors to this volume. Led by Nobel laureate James J. Heckman, they use U.S. employment and training programs as their laboratory for investigation into the performance of performance standards. Drawing on a variety of superior data sources, they explore how performance standards and incentives influence the behavior of public managers and agency employees, their approaches to service delivery, and, ultimately, the outcomes for participants. In the process, they address the following questions: 
<li>How do performance standards and measures operate to include or exclude individuals with different characteristics in public programs? </li>
<li>How do performance standards and measures affect the types of services offered and received? </li>
<li>How do the processes for setting standards and weights for performance goals and for recognizing and rewarding performance affect system incentives and bureaucratic responses? </li>
<li>Are the performance standards, measures, and incentives effective in motivating bureaucratic behavior toward the achievement of program goals? </li>
<li>Do short-term outcome measures used in performance standards systems predict long-term impacts of programs on participants? </li>
<li>What problems or unintended effects are associated with the design and implementation of performance standards systems in the public sector? </li>
<li>What other lessons do we learn from the implementation of performance standards systems and the variation in rules and guidelines governing their administration over time? Demand on the part of policymakers and the public for greater accountability and a results-oriented government continues to grow. Therefore, the design and implementation of performance standards and incentive systems in the public sector will continue to be a dynamic pursuit. The lessons contained in this volume provide direction for policymakers seeking to shape and speed their evolution, as well as in ultimately improving government performance.
</li>

Politics & Social Sciences

Jeffrey Smith

James J. Heckman

Carolyn J. Heinrich

Pascal Courty

Gerald Marschke

Politics & Government

Incentives and accountability for government performance are central to contemporary government reform agendas across the globe. Still, the lessons on intended and unintended effects of incentive and performance management systems from several decades of research and practice do not appear to be reflected in the current design and implementation of these systems in the public sector.  This conundrum serves as motivation for the contributors to this volume. Led by Nobel laureate James J. Heckman, they use U.S. employment and training programs as their laboratory for investigation into the performance of performance standards. Drawing on a variety of superior data sources, they explore how performance standards and incentives influence the behavior of public managers and agency employees, their approaches to service delivery, and, ultimately, the outcomes for participants. In the process, they address the following questions:  How do performance standards and measures operate to include or exclude individuals with different characteristics in public programs? How do performance standards and measures affect the types of services offered and received? How do the processes for setting standards and weights for performance goals and for recognizing and rewarding performance affect system incentives and bureaucratic responses? Are the performance standards, measures, and incentives effective in motivating bureaucratic behavior toward the achievement of program goals? Do short-term outcome measures used in performance standards systems predict long-term impacts of programs on participants? What problems or unintended effects are associated with the design and implementation of performance standards systems in the public sector? What other lessons do we learn from the implementation of performance standards systems and the variation in rules and guidelines governing their administration over time?  Demand on the part of policymakers and the public for greater accountability and a results-oriented government continues to grow. Therefore, the design and implementation of performance standards and incentive systems in the public sector will continue to be a dynamic pursuit. The lessons contained in this volume provide direction for policymakers seeking to shape and speed their evolution, as well as in ultimately improving government performance.

Immigrants and Their International Money Flows

International migration with an emphasis on workers' remittances. Chapters cover the impact of remittances on economic development and the interplay of immigration policies with human capital acquisition and labor markets in out-migration areas. Included are: * Migration and Remittances, by Susan Pozo. In her introductory chapter, Pozo discussues why remittances have become such an important topic to immigration researchers. * International Migration and Economic Development in Low-Income Countries: Lessons from Recent Data, by Robert E.B. Lucas. Lucas contributes a general overview of international migration and notes that, while understanding the connections between poverty and migration is important for furthering our understanding of population movements and their effect on the receiving country, it is also important to understand the economic impacts of migration for those areas experiencing out-migration. This leads to a crucial point: the immigration policies of in-migration areas can and do significantly affect economic development in low-income areas of the world. * The Effect of International Migration on Educated Employment, by Oded Stark and C. Simon Fan. * How Does Migration Affect Local Development? What Mexico's Experience Tells Us, by Christopher Woodruff. * Remittance Patterns of Latin American Immigrants in the United States, by Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes. * Remittances in the Pacific, by David J. McKenzie. McKenzie accesses survey data found in the Pacific Island-New Zealand Migration Survey (PINZMS) to support an informative case study of the migration of Tongans to New Zealand. Since some one-third of Tongans have emigrated and their remittances comprise 39 percent of Tonga's gross domestic product, this is an especially interesting case study that reveals several conclusions relating to the impacts of the long-term flow of remittances. * The Power of Home: Remittances to Families and Communities, by Leah K. VanWey.

Susan Pozo, Editor

Social Sciences

International migration with an emphasis on workers' remittances. Chapters cover the impact of remittances on economic development and the interplay of immigration policies with human capital acquisition and labor markets in out-migration areas. Included * Migration and Remittances, by Susan Pozo. In her introductory chapter, Pozo discussues why remittances have become such an important topic to immigration researchers. * International Migration and Economic Development in Low-Income Lessons from Recent Data, by Robert E.B. Lucas. Lucas contributes a general overview of international migration and notes that, while understanding the connections between poverty and migration is important for furthering our understanding of population movements and their effect on the receiving country, it is also important to understand the economic impacts of migration for those areas experiencing out-migration. This leads to a crucial the immigration policies of in-migration areas can and do significantly affect economic development in low-income areas of the world. * The Effect of International Migration on Educated Employment, by Oded Stark and C. Simon Fan. * How Does Migration Affect Local Development? What Mexico's Experience Tells Us, by Christopher Woodruff. * Remittance Patterns of Latin American Immigrants in the United States, by Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes. * Remittances in the Pacific, by David J. McKenzie. McKenzie accesses survey data found in the Pacific Island-New Zealand Migration Survey (PINZMS) to support an informative case study of the migration of Tongans to New Zealand. Since some one-third of Tongans have emigrated and their remittances comprise 39 percent of Tonga's gross domestic product, this is an especially interesting case study that reveals several conclusions relating to the impacts of the long-term flow of remittances. * The Power of Remittances to Families and Communities, by Leah K. VanWey.

This practical guide to modelling methodology explains how to implement simulations and analyse simulation results using an open-source software platform. It brings together principles of modelling methods with theoretical foundations of a variety of ecological and environmental models.

Older and Out of Work: Jobs and Social Insurance for a Changing Economy

Randall W. Eberts and Richard A. Hobbie, Editors

Business

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the W.E. Upjohn Institute publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by W.E. Upjohn Institute

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the W.E. Upjohn Institute publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Workdays, Workhours, and Work Schedules: Evidence for the United States and Germany

Safety Practices, Firm Culture, and Workplace Injuries

Job Training That Gets Results: Ten Principles of Effective Employment Programs

Licensing Occupations: Ensuring Quality or Restricting Competition?

Licensing Occupations: Ensuring Quality or Restricting Competition?

The Performance of Performance Standards

The Performance of Performance Standards

Immigrants and Their International Money Flows

Immigrants and Their International Money Flows

Older and Out of Work: Jobs and Social Insurance for a Changing Economy