Essays in Labour Economics- Theoretical and empirical assessments of the evolving labour market
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Economics
Abstract
My research is concerned with modelling and assessing the impacts of the evolving labour market on outcomes of interest, such as wages, employment and life-cycle progression. This can be broken down into two sections, the first relates to the so-called "Gig-Economy" (temporary self-employment work) and the other to the impact of wage floors (e.g. the National Minimum Wage) on career progression.
Technological breakthroughs over the past couple of decades have resulted in firms (within certain markets) being able to maintain a smaller permanent workforce while contracting out specific jobs and tasks. Given this evolution in the UK labour market, I intend to adapt labour demand models to include the ability for firms to engage in expansion and contractions of their workforce while maintaining a stable level of permanent employees. Furthermore, I intend to empirically assess the impact of rising alternative work arrangements on both the worker and firm side. Questions which I wish to address concern the benefits and costs to both parties, the impact on training and skill make-up, and associated active or potential routes of regulation.
Minimum wages have received a large amount of academic attention, with most research focused on the impacts of wages and employment. What however has not received significant attention is the prospect of a wage floor becoming the normalised wage level for a variety of positions, and furthermore, workers getting stuck in minimum wage jobs with little scope for career progression. This has implications for skill upgrading and training, and therefore productivity.
Technological breakthroughs over the past couple of decades have resulted in firms (within certain markets) being able to maintain a smaller permanent workforce while contracting out specific jobs and tasks. Given this evolution in the UK labour market, I intend to adapt labour demand models to include the ability for firms to engage in expansion and contractions of their workforce while maintaining a stable level of permanent employees. Furthermore, I intend to empirically assess the impact of rising alternative work arrangements on both the worker and firm side. Questions which I wish to address concern the benefits and costs to both parties, the impact on training and skill make-up, and associated active or potential routes of regulation.
Minimum wages have received a large amount of academic attention, with most research focused on the impacts of wages and employment. What however has not received significant attention is the prospect of a wage floor becoming the normalised wage level for a variety of positions, and furthermore, workers getting stuck in minimum wage jobs with little scope for career progression. This has implications for skill upgrading and training, and therefore productivity.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Uta Schoenberg (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Nikhil Datta (Student) |
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES/P000592/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/09/2027 | |||
| 1923057 | Studentship | ES/P000592/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/09/2022 | Nikhil Datta |
| Description | The evolution of alternative work arrangements such as zero hour contracts and the gig economy appears unlikely to be driven by worker preferences for these jobs. In fact workers would much prefer more secure jobs. Alternatively, low wage sectors such as the social care sector appeared to have responded to the introduction of the National Living Wage by increasing the composition of zero hour contract jobs. |
| Exploitation Route | The research could be used in conjunction with other research concerning alternative work arrangements to design optimal labour market policy. |
| Sectors | Government, Democracy and Justice |
| URL | https://voxeu.org/article/willingness-pay-job-security |