Yves Flückiger

The labour market in Switzerland: the end of a special case?

This paper presents a general survey of the Swiss economy. It emphasises the various factors that have been put forward to explain the very low unemployment rate recorded in Switzerland up to the beginning of the 1990s. It also analyses the factors which may be held responsible for the dramatic reversal of the Swiss labour market situation, by considering the modification in the employers’ and workers’ behaviour in Switzerland as well as the changes observed in the structure of the foreign labour force. It comes to the conclusion that the unemployment observed since 1991 is not simply a consequence of a deterioration in the functioning of the Swiss labour market compared with earlier periods, but rather a result of changes in immigration policies and also the reflection in the statistics of a truer picture of the labour market imbalance created by the restructuring of the economy.

Measuring occupational segregation: Summary statistics and the impact of classification errors and aggregation

The study of occupational segregation is shown to be related to that of income inequality, the gender ratio in each occupation playing the role of individual income. Measures of the dispersion, skewness, kurtosis, and concentration of the distribution of this gender ratio are suggested, and an empirical illustration based on Swiss data for the period 1950–1980 is given. Finally bootstrap techniques are used to check the impact of classification errors and aggregation on the measurement of occupational segregation.

A Cluster Analysis of Multidimensional Poverty in Switzerland

The basic notion that poverty should be measured on the basis of as large a number of components (attributes) as relevant and feasible has enjoyed increasing support in the literature. Since the seminal work of Townsend (1979), it has been recognized that other aspects of life not necessarily related to income can impair human development, such as the access to public goods, health, or education. Many authors have come up with new approaches to provide poverty measures which account for its multidimensionality while maintaining desirable properties (Bourguignon and Chakravarty, 1999, 2003; Atkinson, 2003). One main conceptual issue is how to count multidimensional poverty. In other words, is multidimensional poverty the accumulation of deprivation in various components of what is considered ‘normal life’ (the intersection approach) or should it be defined as the failure to access to at least one of the dimensions (the union approach)?

Export Activity and Wage Dispersion: The Case of Swiss Firms

In this paper we use a large and detailed database to analyse the impact of export activity on wage dispersion in Swiss firms. First, earnings functions are estimated which take into account both observed and unobserved characteristics of individuals and firms. Then, an original decomposition is proposed which identifies the exact impact of each individual and firm characteristic on the wage dispersion observed, both within and between exporting and non-exporting firms. Our results suggest that the impact of export activity on wage dispersion is mainly a human capital story but also show significant differences between exporting and non-exporting firms with respect to firm characteristics and their marginal effects on wages.

Efficiency in Microfinance Institutions: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis to MFIs in Peru

Efficiency in social and financial performance is increasingly being acknowledged as a key condition for possible public sector support. In this chapter, MFIs are considered as production units transforming inputs, or resources, into outputs. Inputs may include labour, financial resources, office space, computer terminals and so on. The number of clients reached, MFI’s operating income, loan portfolio volume, portfolio of small loans targeted at the poorest clients and several other variables of interest may be considered as outputs. Efficiency of a production unit, be it an MFI, a commercial bank or a cement plant, depends on how well this unit utilizes inputs or available resources to maximize outputs. Banks, which are close to MFIs by their type of activity, often measure efficiency by the ratio of total expenses to earned income. However, the specific characteristics of MFIs, such as their social mission or not-for-profit structure, mean that many commonly used performance measures — profitability, cost efficiency, and the like — are inappropriate for evaluating overall MFIs’ performance.1 Clearly, a performance evaluation methodology simultaneously taking into account multiple efficiency criteria is needed to assess the degree to which the MFIs are both socially and financially efficient.

Analyzing changes in occupational segregation: the case of switzerland (1970–2000)

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to analyze the changes that took place in occupational segregation by gender, nationality, and age in Switzerland during the period 1970–2000. Methodology – The paper starts by using correspondence analysis to detect changes in occupational segregation by gender and nationality. It then generalizes a decomposition procedure originally proposed by Karmel and McLachlan by combining their approach with what is now known as the Shapley decomposition. Such a generalization offers a clear breakdown of the variation over time in occupational segregation into a component measuring changes in net segregation and another one corresponding to changes in the margins, the latter itself including variations in the occupational structure and in the shares of the subpopulations (e.g., the genders) in the labor force. Findings – Between 1970 and 2000 there was a slight increase in gross segregation by gender but a decrease in net segregation. The change in gross segregation is because the change in the margins more than compensated that in the internal structure. But even the change in the margins is the consequence of opposite forces since variations in the occupational structure would have per se led to a decrease in gross segregation. Originality – The results of the empirical illustration based on Swiss data for 1970 and 2000 prove the usefulness of the approach. They stress in particular that in several instances, variations in gross and net segregation worked in opposite directions.

On Various ways of Measuring Unemployment, with Applications to Switzerland

This paper discusses first various ways of measuring unemployment and, borrowing ideas from the poverty measurement literature, proposes four more general unemployment indices which are parallel to the Sen poverty index, to its generalization by Shorrocks, to the FGT and to the Watts poverty indices. It then presents an empirical illustration based on Swiss data at the level of the “canton”. More precisely, using the so-called Shapley decomposition, it computes the contribution to the difference between the value of each of these four unemployment indices in a given “canton” and in Switzerland as a whole, of three components measuring respectively the impact of differences in the traditional unemployment rate, in the average unemployment duration and in the inequality in the unemployment durations. The paper ends by discussing the impact on the results obtained of assumptions made concerning the maximum unemployment duration.

The theory of transfers in a multilateral world: The customs union case

This article investigates the effects of a transfer between two countries participating in a customs union. This analysis yields very paradoxical results which differ from the conclusions obtained by the traditional literature which has been developed in a two-country framework or in a multilateral world but with universal free trade. The compensation scheme adopted by the authorities of the customs union may create an overall terms of trade deterioration and induce an impoverishment for both member countries. Thus, transfers may not be an adequate instrument to redistribute the gains of economic integration between the members of a free trade association.

The effect of a unilateral transfer between customs union partners on the terms of trade

This paper analyzes the effect of a unilateral transfer between two customs union members on the terms of trade. In particular, it highlights that this transfer might create, under special conditions, a terms of trade deterioration for all countries.

La crise financière, l'avenir du travail et leurs conséquences pour les assurances sociales

Au cours des dernieres decennies, le marche du travail a subi d’importantes mutations. Ces changements se sont produits de surcroit dans le cadre de societes vieillissantes et dans une economie globalisee. A ces defis structurels sont venus s’ajouter, plus recemment, les effets de la crise financiere. Elle a provoque, dans de nombreux pays, une baisse du PIB qui a entraine une augmentation du chomage particulierement brutale pour certains groupes de la population, tels que les jeunes en fin de formation, et dans plusieurs pays du sud de l’Europe qui enregistrent, aujourd’hui, des taux de chomage superieurs a 20 % de la population active. Cet article a pour objectif d’examiner, en premier lieu, les defis auxquels se trouvent confrontes les systemes de securite sociale en Europe et dans le monde. Sur base de ces constats, sont mises en evidence les reponses concretes qui peuvent etre apportees pour repondre a ces defis en presentant quelques solutions de politique economique susceptibles d’etre adoptees.