papers on low wage labour markets

pretty vacant: recruitment in a low-wage labour market.

investigates the way vacancies are filled in low-wage jobs. finds that jobs have small numbers of applicants but this can influenced by the wage paid. but virtually all jobs are filled eventually so that a larger applicant pool mainly widens employer choice. thw unemployed seem to be at a disadvantage in being selected for initial interview but do not face further disadvantage

the structure of wages in what should be a competitive labour market (with s.machin)

download discussion paper

looks at the structure of wages in a sector without unions or minimum wages where there are many small employers doing the same thing in a concentrated area: care workers in retirement homes. finds that the structure of wages deviates from what one would expect in a competitive market: in particular there is surprisingly little wage variation within firms.

shifts in the demand and supply of skills in the oecd: a single-index model with a continuous distribution of skills (with marco manacorda)

provides a way of estimating shifts in demand towards skilled labour without imposing arbitrary categories. i always thought it was neat but i'm not sure anyone else did.

everything under a fiver: recruitment and retention in lower paying labor markets (with d.brown, r.dickens, p.gregg and s.machin)

this study explores recruitment and retention in five firms in eight local labour markets offering ‘entry-level’ jobs whose wages are in the bottom fifth of the national earnings distribution. was initially meant to be a study of the impact of the national minimum wage but this was set so low that none of our firms were affected by it.