Melanie K. Jones

Training, Job Satisfaction and Workplace Performance in Britain: Evidence from WERS 2004

This paper analyses the relationship between training, job satisfaction and workplace performance using the British 2004 Workplace Employee Relations Survey (WERS). Several measures of performance are analysed including absence, quits, financial performance, labour productivity and product quality. While there is clear evidence that training is positively associated with job satisfaction, and job satisfaction in turn is positively associated with most measures of performance, the relationship between training and performance is complex, depending on both the particular measures of training and of performance used in the analysis.

Disability and the labour market: a review of the empirical evidence

Purpose - This paper aims to identify and draw together key themes in the literature relating to the impact of disability on labour market outcomes. In doing so it provides an overview of issues in estimation in empirical work relating to disability. Design/methodology/approach - This paper reviews the existing international evidence relating to the impact of disability on labour market outcomes. Findings - Regardless of country, data source or time period disability serves to reduce labour market prospects. Understanding the reasons for this requires consideration of issues such as separating discrimination from unobserved differences in productivity and preferences, the influence of heterogeneity within the disabled group and the dynamic effects of disability. Practical implications - The paper also reviews recent evidence concerning the labour market impact of significant changes in legislation affecting the disabled, particularly the introduction of the Americans with Disabilities Act in the USA. This evidence is particularly useful to policymakers. Originality/value - The paper provides a comprehensive review of the empirical evidence relating to the labour market impact of disability and the influence of recent changes in legislation.

Disability and Skill Mismatch

This paper integrates two strands of literature on overskilling and disability using the 2004 British Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS). It finds that the disabled are significantly more likely to be mismatched in the labour market, to suffer from a pay penalty and to have lower job satisfaction, the effects being stronger for the work-limited disabled. Giving workers more discretion over how they perform their work would significantly reduce these negative effects.

Disability and self-employment: evidence for the UK

This article examines the self-employment decision for disabled and nondisabled workers in the UK. Using Labour Force Survey (LFS) data, it is found that self-employment may provide an important means by which those with work-limiting disabilities can accommodate their impairment.

Crossing the Tracks? Trends in the Training of Male and Female Workers in Great Britain

A small number of recent empirical studies report the intriguing finding that the ‘advantage’ in training incidence previously enjoyed by men has been reversed. The present article explores the sources of this gender differential using Labour Force Survey data, updating previous British studies and providing further insights into the above phenomenon. The results suggest that the greater part of the gender ‘gap’ derives from differences in characteristics, among the most important being occupation, industry and sector. However, the increased training incidence among females over time is not explained by changes in characteristics and suggests preferences for training may have changed.

Disability, employment and earnings: an examination of heterogeneity

This article uses information from an ad hoc module on disability in the 2002 UK Labour Force Survey to identify the heterogeneity that exists within the disabled group and examine its impact on labour market outcomes. After controlling for a range of personal characteristics, the type, severity, duration and cause of the disability are found to be important determinants of employment, but there is less evidence to support the influence of within group heterogeneity on earnings.

DOES PART-TIME EMPLOYMENT PROVIDE A WAY OF ACCOMMODATING A DISABILITY?

In this paper, I examine the reasons for high rates of part-time employment among disabled workers in the UK. Evidence from the Labour Force Survey suggests that part-time employment provides an important way of accommodating a work-limiting disability rather than reflecting marginalization of the disabled by employers. Differences in part-time employment within the disabled group are also examined. Copyright

Is There a Public Sector Training Advantage? Evidence from the Workplace Employment Relations Survey

Using matched employer–employee data from the Workplace Employment Relations Survey (2004), we find a significant training ‘advantage’ exists for public sector workers over private sector workers even after accounting for differences in the composition of the two workforces. This finding is robust to all but one change in specification, designed to account for worker sorting effects which can lead to unobserved workplace‐based effects being correlated with individual worker characteristics. Using the average characteristics of workers within an establishment as a control for these sorting effects all but eliminates the estimated public sector training advantage, which has otherwise been an empirical regularity of many individual‐based training models.

Understanding changing disability-related employment gaps in Britain 1998-2011

A large and enduring employment gap attaches to impairment and disability. Nevertheless, disability remains a neglected area of research in both labour economics and sociology of work when compared to other protected groups. The government has looked to health professionals (Dame Carol Black, and Sir Michael Marmot), rather than to social scientists, for policy advice, including in relation to the workplace. The Black Review charts an improvement in employment prospects for those reporting disability (1998–2007), a reversal of a prior trend. The purpose of this study is to uncover and disentangle the drivers of employment growth for those reporting disability. The effects of changes in group characteristics, some of which may be linked to an increase in the rate of ill health reporting, are considered; and also the effects of changes in the employment structure towards flexible working, the public sector and non-manual jobs. The analysis extends to 2011 to capture the effects of the recession.

The Employment Effect of the Disability Discrimination Act: Evidence from the Health Survey for England

This paper uses data from the Health Survey for England between 1991 and 2004 to examine the labour market impact of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA). Consistent with previous evidence in the UK and the USA, this study finds no evidence of a positive employment effect of the introduction of the DDA. Sensitivity analysis, using the small firm exemption of the DDA, and controlling for changes in the composition of the disabled, is used to test the robustness of the main results.