Does Commuting Reduce Wage Disparities?

ABSTRACT This paper shows that in the Baltic countries, commuting reduces urban‐rural wage and employment disparities and increases national output. To quantify the effect of commuting on wage differentials, two sets of earnings functions are estimated (based on Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian Labor Force Surveys) with location variables (capital city, rural, etc.) measured at the workplace and at the place of residence. We find that the ceteris paribus wage gap between capital city and rural areas, as well as between capital and other cities is significantly narrowed by commuting in some cases but remains almost unchanged in others. Different outcomes are explained by country‐specific spatial patterns of commuting, educational and occupational composition of commuting flows, and presence or absence of wage discrimination against rural residents in urban markets. A treatment effects model is used to estimate individual wage gains to rural—urban or inter‐city commuting; these gains are substantial in most but not all cases. Wage effects of commuting distance, as well as impact of education, gender, ethnicity, and local labor market conditions on the commuting decision are also explored.     

U.S. Commuting Networks and Economic Growth: Measurement and Implications for Spatial Policy

Labor market areas (LMAs) have long been a staple of regional and urban analysis. As commuting patterns have expanded over time, these areas have become larger and more complex, and the dichotomous designation of a county either belonging to an LMA or not may no longer be adequate. We apply recent advances in network science to conduct a more refined analysis of U.S. commuting patterns, and examine their effects on local economic growth. Results show that network degree and entropy measures explain variations in county per capita income growth patterns. Higher in‐ and out‐commuting entropies are associated with lower per capita income growth, but their interaction enhances economic growth in places simultaneously open to both in‐ and out‐commuters. Using these results, common ground may be found for creating new forms of regional governance that better reflect local realities of cross‐county border flows of workers and economic activity.     

Producer Services,Labor Market Segmentation and Peripheral Regions: The Case of Saskatchewan

ABSTRACT Within the last decade, a considerable literature has emerged on the growth and location of producer services employment in North America, and in the role of labor market characteristics in shaping these changes. One of the outcomes of this research has been the realization that producer services are overwhelmingly concentrated in metropolitan areas, and that there is a strong core-periphery dichotomy in the representation of these activities. This paper explores the labor market characteristics of a set of producer service activities within the peripheral urban hierarchy of Saskatchewan, Canada, dominated by the regional cores of Saskatoon and Regina, and surrounded by ten peripheral regions. The data set was provided by Employment Canada, and divided into Canada Employment Centre (CEC) Areas. It was found that the higher order producer services, such as Finance and Business Services, are significantly underrepresented relative to the rest of Canada, while others, such as Services to Primary Producers and Transportation and Communications, are significantly overrepresented. However, the nature of these services, as reflected in their labor market characteristics, are very different. Gender and the role of part-time labor appear to be distinguished on the basis of the specific producer service sector, with very few distinctions across space. On the other hand, differences in the roles played by part-year labor is less related to the sector and more related to position within the peripheral hierarchy. Although the heartland-hinterland model is usually applied at national or even international scales of analysis, the nature of the segmentation of the producer services labor force, and its relationship to urbanization and development of the sector, imply that the model can in fact be used as a fiamework for analyzing intraregional employment relationships within the periphery. This study highlights the nature of the labor force as one aspect of this framework.     

欠发达地区农村劳动力资源合理开发配置策略研究——基于福建省两县农村劳动力资源配置状况的调查

摘 要：分析了福建省欠发达地区农村劳动力资源配置存在的问题，提出了建立健全农村劳动力市场体系，设立农民职业生涯规划机构，帮助农民设计职业生涯，引导农民参加与其相适配的职业培训，开辟就业空间，促进农村劳动力合理流动的对策与建议。     

城市外来农村已婚女性劳动力就业的制约因素分析——基于河北省的实证分析

以城市外来农村已婚女性劳动力为研究对象,构建二元Probit回归模型,实证分析城市外来农村已婚女性劳动力就业的制约因素。研究表明:技能是制约城市外来农村劳动力就业的关键因素,且相对于城市外来农村男性劳动力,城市外来农村已婚女性劳动力就业受技能因素的影响更大。因此要改善农村已婚女性劳动力在城市就业的状态,必须要加大职业技能培训,同时尽快建立城市外来农村劳动力非正规就业劳动组织,对促进农村劳动力转移和推进城市化进程具有重要意义。     

Rural‐to‐Urban Commuting: Three Degrees of Integration

Commuting ties between rural places of residence and urban places of employment are among the most visible forms of rural–urban integration. For some rural areas, access to urban employment is a key source of population retention and growth. However, this access varies considerably across rural areas, with distance representing a primary deterrent. In addition to distance, the size of the urban community will also influence rural‐to‐urban commuting opportunities. In this paper, using Canadian data, we empirically estimated the influence of local rural population and job growth on rural out‐commuting within the urban hierarchy. We find consistent support for the deconcentration hypothesis where population moves to rural areas for lifestyle and quality of life reasons, while retaining urban employment. Further, we find some evidence that in addition to distance from the nearest urban center being a deterrent, increased remoteness from the top of the urban hierarchy exerts a positive influence on out‐commuting. Recognition of these types of rural–urban linkages through commuting is essential in designing Canadian rural policy and targeted programs that may effectively support local rural populations. In particular, they point to the need to have reasonable transportation infrastructure for urban accessibility, which should be complemented by other “built” infrastructure to improve the livability of rural communities.     

Commuting distances to local non‐farm workplaces and out‐migration: The case of Northeast Thailand

The relationship between commuting distances and where people work has been studied for urban contexts in both developed countries and developing countries. However, few studies have examined the situation in rural areas, and none look at commuting distances to non‐farm workplaces in rural areas of developing countries. This paper investigates how commuting distance, and thus accessibility, to local non‐farm work influences non‐farm employment and out‐migration from rural villages in Northeast Thailand. The main issues examined are: (i) the distance that rural residents travel to work in local non‐farm jobs; and (ii) the influence that local non‐farm employment has on the number of outmigrants from rural villages. The study finds: (i) distance between villages and non‐farm work sites impact the number of villagers who are employed in regular wage work; (ii) beyond 20 km villagers are less likely to travel to non‐farm employment using their own means of transportation; and (iii) employment in regular wage work decreases outmigration. The findings from this study contribute to the debates over the drivers of rural out‐migration, rural livelihood changes, and agrarian changes that are taking place in Southeast Asia.     

Long-distance commuting and population change in Georgia, 1960-80

The authors investigate counter-urbanization and population change in Georgia between 1960 and 1980 by examining commuting patterns. "The immediate objective is to construct the entire set of commuting fields of both large metropolitan areas to metropolitan and nonmetropolitan employment centers. We then proceed to the relationship between commuting from nonmetropolitan areas to all levels of Georgia's urban hierarchy and population change in these nonmetropolitan settings. By matching population growth and decline areas with explicit employment ties...the nature of the population changes is much better understood." Data from the 1960, 1970, and 1980 censuses for 581 Census County Divisions (CCDs) in Georgia are analyzed. It is concluded that "most nonmetropolitan growth taking place in Georgia is associated with intensification of metropolitan commuting fields along with growth of nonmetropolitan centers and their influence along the very periphery of metropolitan spheres of employment influence. However, a significant share of Georgia's nonmetropolitan population revitalization is explained by growth independent of direct metropolitan influence. It would appear then that nonmetropolitan growth centers are an important part of the basis for population decentralization in Georgia. Metropolitan spill-over alone cannot account for counterurbanization on this portion of the American economic landscape."     

基于选择模型的农村劳动力非农就业影响因素分析——以陕西武功县为例

为了研究农村劳动力的非农就业问题对提高农民收入,促进农民充分就业,推动二元经济结构转型有着重要意义。基于2011年8月陕西省武功县83个农户的调查数据,建立Probit为代表的选择模型,研究教育程度、性别、年龄、受培训状况、婚姻状态、村干部作用以及人均土地面积对非农就业决策的影响。研究结果表明:婚姻状况,受培训状况和家庭人均土地面积因素不显著,而性别、年龄、接受教育年限和村干部作用因素显著,基于分析结果提出应大力发展农村教育事业,加强对农村劳动力的培训力度;完善农村社会保障体系,加快小城镇建设步伐,发展高效、低耗、环保的乡镇企业,培育农村劳动力就业新的增长点。     

福建省晋江市农村劳动力就业现况分析

农村劳动力外出就业是当前农村劳动力转移主要方式。福建省晋江市作为沿海较发达地区的代表,在农村劳动力转移就业方面有自身特点。本文在对晋江市进行实地调研的基础上,探寻了晋江市自身用工方面特点、缺工原因、未来用工走势及应因对策等。晋江市用工特点为用工量大、结构性缺工严重等,缺工原因在于农村剩余劳动力再转移可能性小、产业不断扩大升级以及劳动力市场供过于求带来选择性就业等,而未来用工走势近期来看还将是用工短缺扩大化以及长远来看技术进步后用工短缺现象的进一步缓和,政府将在涉及建立健全就业服务体系、加大培训力度、开展劳务协作等方面采取措施,企业也将就提高就业人员的待遇并使其对将要或已经就业岗位有较好的预期外,积极推进技术改造。     

Alternative Labor Market Closures in a Regional Model

Five versions of a regional economic forecasting and simulation model are implemented to evaluate the forecasting accuracy and significance for impact analysis of alternative regional labor market closures. The five versions correspond to the following specifications: downward-sloped labor demand and upward-sloped labor supply, vertical labor demand and upward-sloped labor supply, an input-output version, and two general equilibrium configurations of labor demand and supply. It is found that the estimated impacts of an exogenous employment stimulus differ greatly across the model versions. Also, post-sample forecasts for 1981-1988 are run for the fifty states plus Washington D.C. with each model version to test their relative forecast accuracy. The forecast comparison shows that the general equilibrium version that specifies inelastic supply is inferior to the other versions for short-term forecasts of wage rates and long-term employment forecasts. For both short- and long-run population forecasts, the versions with completely immobile labor are more accurate than those with completely mobile labor. However, versions that specify an upward-sloped labor supply (partial labor supply adjustment) are the most accurate.     

Job Lock in Rural versus Urban Labor Markets

While the possible negative effect of employer‐sponsored health insurance on labor mobility (job lock) has spawned substantial research, little research has considered differences in job lock between rural and urban areas. Job lock might differ in rural areas because of specific features of rural economies, in particular, the thinness of rural labor markets. This paper estimates measures of job lock for rural and urban areas. Parameter estimates suggest that it is larger in rural areas. The results also indicate that nonwage benefits such as retirement plans, paid vacation, and sick pay are more important factors in married rural workers decisions to change jobs while wages are a more important factor in the transition decisions of single urban workers.     

四川盆地边缘山地与川中丘陵区农村劳动力转移比较研究

四川盆地边缘山地和川中丘陵区是四川省农村劳动力的主要输出地。本研究分别选择沐川县和安岳县作为两区域的样本县,采用与人口规模成比例的分层概率抽样(PPS)方法,按3乡镇/县、3行政村/乡镇、5村民小组以上/行政村的标准抽取调查乡镇、行政村和村民小组,再用间隔法在村民小组内抽取农户(共6乡镇、27村、101村民小组和813户),通过农户问卷和综合分析,从县域和乡镇两个尺度进行两县域农村劳动力转移的比较研究。结果表明：(1)农村劳动力转移仍是川中丘陵区(安岳县)和盆地边缘山地(沐川县)农村劳动力配置的主要方式,但前者农村劳动力转移强度和压力远大于后者。(2)受区位、资源环境、农业结构和非农产业等因素综合作用,在县域尺度上安岳县农村劳动力以省外转移为主,且比以省内转移为主的沐川县转移强度大、女性比重高、转移带来的留守老年/未成年人等社会问题更为突出。(3)资源环境相对一致的安岳县在乡镇尺度上农村劳动力转移主要受社会经济因素影响,乡镇间转移强度、转移劳动力文化程度与女性比例、省外转移比重、就业行业分散程度等均与乡镇对外联系便捷度、经济条件呈正向变动。而资源环境与社会经济分异复杂的沐川县,其乡镇农村劳动力转移受资源环境和社会经济的双重影响,乡镇间转移劳动力的状况与转移强度差异复杂,但乡镇间转移流向和就业领域差异不大,转移带来的社会问题与转移强度呈正向关联。(4)今后应充分认识和重视安岳县所在的川中丘陵区农村劳动力流动及合理配置的难度和问题。同时,要根据自然与社会经济的分异实际,从县域与乡镇两个尺度因地制宜地促进其流动与合理配置：安岳县应将区域流动与就地转化相结合,并着力改善基础设施促进落后乡镇劳动力转移;而沐川县应逐步向就地转化过渡,着力于有条件乡镇就地转化的探索。此外,实施区域产业转型与农村劳动力流动的有效联动是两地的共同选择。     

基于网络的农村劳动力信息分类规范研究

针对当前农村网络就业信息多但针对性不强、搜索准确率低的瓶颈问题,急需统一标准对相关信息进行规范。在分析现有农业农村信息资源分类的基础上,考虑农村劳动力信息的用途以及网络服务实践和管理的信息特征,提出农村劳动力信息分类规范的应用范围和构建原则,利用线性分类法设计信息分类体系和属性,初步建立了网络化的农村劳动力信息分类规范,并依托于广东农村信息直通车工程等信息化项目进行了应用。     

农村土地流转与农村剩余劳动力转移探讨

笔者运用PSR评价模型、博弈论的分析方法,对中国当前金融危机背景下,返乡农民工的就业策略做了简要分析,认为在相当一部分农民在外出无门、就业压力激增的情况下,只有靠农村和农业本身的发展,充分发挥农村土地流转的作用,将土地流转和解决农村剩余劳动力结合起来,进行劳动密集型农业生产,是解决返乡农民工就业、实现农村内部消化剩余劳动力的重要途径。     

Unemployment Duration in Non‐Metropolitan Labor Markets

Non‐metropolitan areas of the U.S have experienced significant structural economic changes in recent decades. These changes have raised concerns that some non‐metropolitan workers may face significant costs to employment displacements associated with economic adjustments. This paper explores the roles that linkages to metropolitan labor markets, area labor market conditions, and individual attributes play in determining the rates of exit from unemployment to employment among non‐metropolitan area residents. Adjacency to a metropolitan area is found to significantly increase transition rates from unemployment to employment among displaced non‐metropolitan workers, but local economic conditions are found to have relatively weak or insignificant effects on transition rates. Also, lack of post‐high school education and minority status both significantly reduce rates of exit from unemployment in non‐metropolitan areas following employmentdisplacement.     

保定市农村已婚女性劳动力转移就业影响因素分析

相对于农村男性劳动力,农村已婚女性劳动力转移率低且非农就业形态较差。本文以保定市农村已婚女性为研究对象,科学选择调研样本,应用probit模型分析农村已婚女性劳动力转移就业的影响因素,以及各因素的影响方向和影响程度,为促进农村已婚女性劳动力转移提出政策建议。     

无法“终结”的中国村庄

乡村“终结”的充分必要条件是工业化和城市具有足够的就业容量,把农村剩余劳动力全部吸纳。中国工业化和城市化没有也不可能复制先行工业化国家资本原始积累的历史前提,不可能复制先行工业化国家的工业结构以及产业结构演变历史进程,非农就业压力以及农民工在城乡之间频繁流动的严峻现实,都表明中国工业化和城市化无法吸纳庞大的农村人口,由此则昭示未来中国的村庄无法“终结”。从而在理论上纠正城市“中心论”,在实践上为社会主义新农村建设、乡村就地城市化提供必要性和正当性的支持。     

The Call of the Wild: Call Centers and Economic Development in Rural Areas

This paper attempts to reflect critically on the role which telephone call centers might play in the economic development of rural places in the ‘information age’, drawing mainly on a case study of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. It argues that although call center employment tends mainly to be urban‐based, the growth of this form of work does present opportunities for some rural areas. The paper considers the locational factors rural areas would have to possess or develop in order to attract such work. It suggests call centers can make a valuable, though limited, contribution towards rural economic development, principally through the creation of additional employment opportunities and the stimulation of new skills and competencies. It also suggests that call centers do not represent a panacea for rural areas and that, indeed, it would be dangerous for rural areas to become over‐reliant on employment in this sector.