The Effect of Work First Job Placements on the Distribution of Earnings: An Instrumental Variable Quantile Regression Approach
Government employment programs for low-skilled workers typically emphasize rapid placement of participants into jobs, of which many are temporary-help jobs. Using data from Detroit’s welfare to-work program and the Chernozhukov-Hansen instrumental variables quantile regression method, we find that n...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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University of Chicago Press
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/113706 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6915-9381 |
| _version_ | 1811075257301204992 |
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| author | Houseman, Susan N. Autor, David H Kerr, Sari |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Houseman, Susan N. Autor, David H Kerr, Sari |
| author_sort | Houseman, Susan N. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Government employment programs for low-skilled workers typically emphasize rapid placement of participants into jobs, of which many are temporary-help jobs. Using data from Detroit’s welfare to-work program and the Chernozhukov-Hansen instrumental variables quantile regression method, we find that neither direct-hire nor temporary-help job placements significantly affect the lower tail of the earnings distribution. In the upper tail, direct-hire placements yield sizable earnings increases for over half of participants, while temporary help placements yield significant earnings losses at higher quantiles. Our results cast doubt on the efficacy of employment programs’ exclusive focus on rapid job placement and their widespread reliance on temporary-help placements. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:03:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/113706 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:03:13Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | University of Chicago Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1137062022-09-26T15:26:31Z The Effect of Work First Job Placements on the Distribution of Earnings: An Instrumental Variable Quantile Regression Approach Houseman, Susan N. Autor, David H Kerr, Sari Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Autor, David H Kerr, Sari Government employment programs for low-skilled workers typically emphasize rapid placement of participants into jobs, of which many are temporary-help jobs. Using data from Detroit’s welfare to-work program and the Chernozhukov-Hansen instrumental variables quantile regression method, we find that neither direct-hire nor temporary-help job placements significantly affect the lower tail of the earnings distribution. In the upper tail, direct-hire placements yield sizable earnings increases for over half of participants, while temporary help placements yield significant earnings losses at higher quantiles. Our results cast doubt on the efficacy of employment programs’ exclusive focus on rapid job placement and their widespread reliance on temporary-help placements. 2018-02-16T16:14:20Z 2018-02-16T16:14:20Z 2016-10 2012-03 2018-02-16T12:49:25Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0734-306X 1537-5307 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/113706 Autor, David H. et al. “The Effect of Work First Job Placements on the Distribution of Earnings: An Instrumental Variable Quantile Regression Approach.” Journal of Labor Economics 35, 1 (January 2017): 149–190 © 2016 University of Chicago Press https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6915-9381 http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/687522 Journal of Labor Economics Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf University of Chicago Press Other repository |
| spellingShingle | Houseman, Susan N. Autor, David H Kerr, Sari The Effect of Work First Job Placements on the Distribution of Earnings: An Instrumental Variable Quantile Regression Approach |
| title | The Effect of Work First Job Placements on the Distribution of Earnings: An Instrumental Variable Quantile Regression Approach |
| title_full | The Effect of Work First Job Placements on the Distribution of Earnings: An Instrumental Variable Quantile Regression Approach |
| title_fullStr | The Effect of Work First Job Placements on the Distribution of Earnings: An Instrumental Variable Quantile Regression Approach |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Effect of Work First Job Placements on the Distribution of Earnings: An Instrumental Variable Quantile Regression Approach |
| title_short | The Effect of Work First Job Placements on the Distribution of Earnings: An Instrumental Variable Quantile Regression Approach |
| title_sort | effect of work first job placements on the distribution of earnings an instrumental variable quantile regression approach |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/113706 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6915-9381 |
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