Maite Blázquez Cuesta

Low-wage Employment and Mobility in Spain

The issue of low-wage workers has received increased interest during last decades in many European countries. In this paper I analyse the patterns of low-wage employment in the Spanish labour market. Using a sample of Spanish workers extracted from the European Community Household Panel for the period 1995-2001, I first analyse the earnings distribution as a whole, looking at the characteristics of low, medium and high paid jobs. I also look at the evolution of these jobs over the period 1995-2001. Furthermore, I examine the determinants of being in a low-paid job using an analytical framework that is characterised by the ability to account for the endogeneity of initial conditions. Finally, I explore the effects of low pay on job mobility. For this purpose I adopt an approach based on competing risks in order to allow for different risks of failure.

Income deprivation and mental well-being: The role of non-cognitive skills

We show that the positive relation between income deprivation and mental health is affected by an individuals non-cognitive skills. Income deprivation is operationalized as the Yitzhaki index, i.e., as a function of the sum of income differences between an individual and others in her reference group who are more affluent. Non-cognitive skills are extracted from a Locus of Control questionnaire and the Big Five Inventory, a self-report measurement of an individual in regard to five aspects of personality: conscientiousness, neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness and open-mindedness. The results, based on the 2002-2010 waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel dataset (SOEP), show that deprivation is negative and significantly related with mental health. However, neurotic individuals are more deprivation-sensitive than are others. Compared to the mean effect, a one standard deviation rise in neuroticism is associated with a deprivation effect that is 36.6% and 51.9% larger among men and women, respectively. Although to a lesser extent, extraverted men and conscientious women are also found to be more deprivation-sensitive than are others, the corresponding figures being 31.1% and 45.9%, respectively. These findings suggest that personality differences should be taken into account in the design of policies, practices and initiatives aimed at alleviating the well-being costs of income deprivation.

Sickness absence rates in Spain: Evidence for the period 1996-2004

El presente articulo pone de manifiesto las tendencias de absentismo laboral en Espana a partir de microdatos de la Encuesta de Poblacion Activa (EPA). Hemos prestado una especial atencion a las principales caracteristicas demograficas y del lugar de trabajo que aumentan las tasas de absentismo por enfermedad. En general, la tasa de absentismo por enfermedad oscila entre el 2 y el 2,5%, valores que se han mantenido estables durante el periodo 1996-2004. Las mujeres, las personas de avanzada edad y los funcionarios suelen ausentarse mas del trabajo por problemas de salud. En cambio, el riesgo de absentismo por enfermedad se reduce con la inseguridad laboral, tal y como sugieren las bajas tasas de absentismo encontradas entre los trabajadores temporales. Por ultimo, los resultados indican que el estatus socioeconomico, medido segun la ocupacion y el grado de formacion, es uno de los factores que nos pueden ayudar a explicar el absentismo por baja laboral.

Unemployment Persistence: How Important are Non-Cognitive Skills?

Using a random effects dynamic panel data model and the 2000-2008 waves of the German SOEP this paper shows that non-cognitive skills have a predictive power on unemployment transitions.