Local Labor Markets and Human Capital Investments

Weinstein, Russell

doi:10.3368/jhr.58.1.1119-10566r2

Cited by 25 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The descriptive data in Figure 2 suggest large announcement effects for the earliest treated cohorts, even before foreign inflows were likely to have large impacts on STEM labor markets. This result is consistent with research studying how students form expectations about their majors (Zafar 2011; Long, Goldhaber, and Huntington-Klein 2015; Wiswall and Zafar 2015; Weinstein 2017). What is unclear, however, is which information students would have used to modify their beliefs about future success.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Do Foreigners Crowd Natives out of STEM Degrees and Occupations? Evidence from the US Immigration Act of 1990

Ransom¹,

Winters

2020

ILR Review

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. ABSTRACT Do Foreigners Crowd Natives out of STEM Degrees and Occupations? Evidence from the U.S. Immigration Act of 1990This paper examines effects of the U.S. Immigration Act of 1990 on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) degree completion and labor market outcomes for native-born Americans. The Act increased the in-flow and stock of foreign STEM workers in the U.S., both by increasing green card allotments and by expanding temporary work visas via the H-1B visa program. These policy changes potentially altered the relative desirability of various college majors and occupations for natives. We examine effects of the policy on STEM degree completion, STEM occupational choice, and employment rates separately for black and white males and females. We identify the effects using variation in natives' exposure to foreign STEM workers and the geographic dispersion in foreign-born STEM workers in 1980, which precedes the Act and predicts future foreign STEM flows. We find that the Immigration Act changed natives' skill investment and utilization in three ways: (1) it pushed black males out of STEM majors; (2) it pushed white male STEM graduates out of STEM occupations; and (3) it pushed white female STEM graduates out of the workforce. JEL Classification:J24, J61

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Do Foreigners Crowd Natives out of STEM Degrees and Occupations? Evidence from the US Immigration Act of 1990

Ransom¹,

Winters

2020

ILR Review

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“…The survey data used in this study permit investigation into the effect of having an educational institution that trains MTs in close proximity to a given laboratory. Although the local presence of a training institution does not matter in a theoretical, frictionless labour market with perfect worker mobility, there is considerable empirical evidence that the presence of a local institution matters for regional human capital acquisition and labour supply (Card 1993;Weinstein 2018). This factor may be particularly relevant for clinical diagnostic laboratories, as the number of laboratory training programs declined by over 20 per cent from 1990 to 2010 (Bennett et al 2014).…”

Section: Market Structure 2: Monopsony and Institutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hiring Frictions in a Regulated Occupation: Evidence from US Laboratories

Weaver

2020

Brit J Industrial Rel

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Determining the nature and source of hiring frictions is an important topic for policymakers, as these frictions impact both worker outcomes and economic growth. To date, there has been very little US-based research that has combined detailed measures of employer skill requirements, market structure, organizational characteristics and hiring difficulties at the establishment level. Prior to this study, there has been almost no research that has investigated these issues in the context of a highly regulated industry such as healthcare, which employs more workers than either retail or manufacturing. Using a unique, nationally representative dataset, this study finds that organizational practices and market structure are more relevant predictors of hiring difficulties for laboratory technologists than factors, such as skill mismatch, that are often assumed to be of primary importance.Disagreement over the factors responsible for hiring challenges is a perennial feature of economic discourse in many countries (Brunello and Wruuck 2019; CEDEFOP 2015; ILO 2014). Many analysts -along with conventional wisdom -have pointed to skill deficiencies in the labour force as a primary culprit (ECB 2012; Manpower 2015;Rothwell 2014; WEF 2014). At the same time, other researchers have stressed the key role of alternative explanations, such as organizational choices, regulations and market structure, in determining labour-market outcomes (Cappelli 2015;Gambin et al. 2016;Green 2013;Kleiner and Krueger 2013). The debate has been hampered by the lack of nationally representative, establishmentlevel data that include measurements of items such as employer skill requirements, job design, management strategy, level of automation and market characteristics. The limited research on this topic in the United

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“…Their paper provides evidence that students' college major choices are indeed influenced by wage information that is received before or during their college career. Weinstein (2017) provides evidence that college major choice responds to local labor market conditions by showing that universities in areas more exposed to sectoral shocks experience greater changes in sector-relevant majors. For instance, he finds that after the dot-com crash, there was a sharp decline in computer science degrees at research universities in high computer employment areas, but there was no effect at research universities in areas with low computer employment shares.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Union Reform, Performance Pay, and New Teacher Supply: Evidence from Wisconsin's Act 10

Barón

2021

AEA Papers and Proceedings

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This study examines the impact of performance pay on teacher selection. I exploit a shift toward performance pay in Wisconsin induced by the enactment of Act 10, which gave school districts autonomy to redesign their compensation schemes. Following the law, half of Wisconsin school districts eliminated salary schedules and started negotiating pay with individual teachers based on performance. Comparing the quantity of teaching degrees in Wisconsin institutions before and after Act 10, and relative to those in similar states, I find that Act 10 led to a 20 percent increase in teaching degrees. This effect was entirely driven by selective universities.

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Local Labor Markets and Human Capital Investments

Cited by 25 publications

References 23 publications

Do Foreigners Crowd Natives out of STEM Degrees and Occupations? Evidence from the US Immigration Act of 1990

Do Foreigners Crowd Natives out of STEM Degrees and Occupations? Evidence from the US Immigration Act of 1990

Hiring Frictions in a Regulated Occupation: Evidence from US Laboratories

Union Reform, Performance Pay, and New Teacher Supply: Evidence from Wisconsin's Act 10

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