Marcel Kerkhofs

Multistate Models For Clustered Duration Data - An Application To Workplace Effects On Individual Sickness Absenteeism

Sickness absenteeism figures show a relatively large amount of variation across firms and organizations, indicating substantial within-firm correlations between absenteeism records of individual workers. To study the role of firm-specific circumstances and workforce composition, we specify three-state, multicycle duration models of work, sickness, and job separation, with workplace-specific fixed effects to account for unobserved differences between firms. In the most flexible specification, these fixed effects are separate, nonparametric, baseline hazards for each firm and each type of transition. Alternative estimation methods are discussed and applied to individual absenteeism histories of primary-school teachers.

Working time flexibility across Europe: a typology using firm‐level data

Using the European Establishment Survey of Working Times, we derive a typology of firms based on the mix of flexible working time practices they employ. Six flexibility profiles are distinguished, each representing a considerable proportion of establishments. The typology not only differentiates between more and less flexible firms, but also between the focus of the practices firms adopt, stressing that flexibility is not a one-dimensional concept. We also investigate what firm characteristics are good predictors of the adoption of a certain flexibility profile and how the profiles are related to performance and perceived HRM bottlenecks.

Transition intensities in the Dutch labour market 1980–85

Using data from a set of retrospective questions from a Dutch national sample on individual labour market experiences in the period 1980–85, a three-state hazard model is estimated. Transitions are analysed between three labour market states: employment, unemployment and the out-of-the labour force, as well as between jobs (job mobility). Allowance is made for time-varying exogenous variables and for duration dependence. The estimated transition rates allow us to predict individual probabilities of participation in the labour force, of unemployment and employment, and to calculate expected lengths of stay in each of these labour market states as a function of personal characteristics and relevant demand conditions.

Skills obsolescence and technological progress: An empirical analysis of expected skill shortages

The combination of technological innovation with an ageing labor force makes skills obsolescence one of the main themes of current research in labor economics. Related to this issue, we study whether or not employers think their labor force is sufficiently equipped for future demands. For this purpose we use firm-level panel data for the Dutch economy. The results show that both the composition of the work force and firm-specific characteristics explain part of the observed differences between firms. Firms that use advanced technology and are product innovators have the highest probability of experiencing problems due to insufficient competences. The analysis of the dynamics of perceived competence problems shows that these are less likely to be persistent in technologically more advanced firms.