Labor Markets in Emerging and Transition Economies
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Labor Markets in Emerging and Transition Economies
Labor Markets in Emerging and Transition Economies
Labor Markets in Emerging and Transition Economies
Labor Markets in Emerging and Transition Economies
Labor Markets in Emerging and Transition Economies
Labor Markets in Emerging and Transition Economies
Labor Markets in Emerging and Transition Economies
Labor Markets in Emerging and Transition Economies
Labor Markets in Emerging and Transition Economies
Labor Markets in Emerging and Transition Economies
Labor Markets in Emerging and Transition Economies
Labor Markets in Emerging and Transition Economies
Labor Markets in Emerging and Transition Economies
Labor Markets in Emerging and Transition Economies
Labor Markets in Emerging and Transition Economies
Labor Markets in Emerging and Transition Economies
Labor Markets in Emerging and Transition Economies
Labor Markets in Emerging and Transition Economies
Labor Markets in Emerging and Transition Economies
Labor Markets in Emerging and Transition Economies
The analysis of labor markets in transition economies is still a wide and flourishing field within labor economics. The program pursues several strands of this analysis: looking at special adjustment mechanisms in the labor market, emphasizing the differences between Central European countries and the countries of the Former Soviet Union; evaluating the success of labor market reforms in the light of Western experience; discussing the lessons that can be drawn from these reform efforts for EU economies; analyzing labor issues that are connected to EU accession of the Central European countries; examining the internal labor market in Russia and Ukraine; comparative studying labor market reforms and how they relate to general economic policies and political institutions; and last, but not least, investigating important issues related to Chinese labor market reform. IZA research in this area will also be extended to labor markets in the emerging economies of Africa, Asia and Latin America in order to study e. g. the analysis of the nexus between labor market reforms and poverty alleviation, and the impact of universal labor standards on formal employment in these countries.
As a part of research pursuit, we also engage in several data collection projects, including the Ukrainian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, personnel data from large Russian and Ukrainian firms, and Longitudinal Survey on Rural Urban Migration in China.
For general information about this program area, please contact: transition@iza.org
Informal employment is a wide-spread phenomenon in transition economies that has not been investigated in the literature in a satisfactory fashion. The two projects make it possible to comparatively analyze informal employment in two countries with very different levels of development. For example, in 2008 Georgia had a much larger rural population, a much lower pro capita income and average wages that were roughly one half of those of Russia. By investigating the extent to which these differences have an impact on the incidence of informality and its distribution across the workforce will allow us to distinguish between idiosyncratic and systemic factors driving informality in transition. The projects also explore some new research areas regarding informal employment insofar as they will look at the link between risk attitudes and time preferences of workers and the incidence of informal employment. [read more]
Last updated: 2012/01/20
The Ukrainian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (ULMS)
Funded by:
Consortium led by IZA; the other permanent members of the consortium are: CERT, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh; EERC Ukraine; and RWI Essen.
Ukraine, being one of the largest successor states of the former Soviet Union, is virtually terra incognita as far as our knowledge of labor market adjustment is concerned. While there has been some limited work done on labor market adjustment in Ukraine using firm survey and firm register data no serious studies exist that get at the behavior of individuals and households in the Ukrainian labor market. The main reason for this is the lack of good data at the individual and household level.
To alleviate this situation this program started an initiative to create a panel data set on the Ukrainian working age population, the Ukrainian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (ULMS). The ULMS panel data set, similar to the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, is conceived as a statistically representative sample of the Ukrainian population aged between 15 and 72 years, comprising 4000 households and approximately 8,500 individuals. The survey is being done by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS). The first two waves of the data (collected in the spring of 2003 and of 2004) are now available to researchers of the sponsor organizations. These first two waves will become public user data in 2006.
The ULMS survey instrument is very detailed. The household questionnaire contains questions on the demographic structure of the household, its income and expenditure patterns as well as living conditions. The core of the survey instrument is however the individual questionnaire, which tries to elicit very detailed information about the labor market experience of Ukrainian workers. Apart from standard LFS sections, there is an extensive retrospective part for the first wave, which tracks workers’ labor market involvement at specific past points in time and which allows a complete reconstruction of workers’ labor market histories between January 1998 and the date of the interview in 2003. For subsequent waves, there are retrospective sections that again allow the reconstruction of a complete history between the preceding and the current wave. In addition there are sections on education and skills, the ownership structure and its evolution at workers’ firms, spatial mobility, health status and political and environmental attitudes. Finally, there is a large set of questions about wage arrears, payments in kind, unpaid leave etc. in order to address specific adjustment mechanisms that have taken place in Ukraine like in other labor markets of CIS countries. The ULMS provides arguably the most complete data source on labor market developments in any country of the CIS.
"Returns to schooling in Russia and Ukraine: A semiparametric approach to cross-country comparative analysis", in: Journal of Comparative Economics, 2005, 33(2), 324-350 (IZA DP No. 1325).
"The Russian-Ukrainian Political Divide", IZA DP No. 2530, December 2006, (published in: Eastern European Economics, 2011, 49 (6), 103–115) [view abstract]
"Determinants of Poverty during Transition: Household Survey Evidence from Ukraine", IZA DP No. 3228, December 2007, (revised version published as 'Poverty during Transition: Household Survey Evidence from Ukraine' in: Journal of Comparative Economics, 2010, 38 (2), 123-145) [view abstract]
"The Impact of Chernobyl on Health and Labour Market Performance in the Ukraine", IZA DP No. 4467, October 2009, (revised version published in: Journal of Health Economics, 2011, 30 (5), 843-857) [view abstract]
Showing Off to the New Neighbors? Income, Socioeconomic Status and Consumption Patterns of Internal Migrants (forthcoming in: Journal of Comparative Economics, 2013)
"Labor Markets and Labor Market Institutions in Transition Economies", in: P.Hare and G.Turley (Eds.), "The Handbook on the Economics and Political Economy of Transition", 2012, Routledge, forthcoming.
"Worker Displacement in Russia and Ukraine: A Comparative Analysis Using Micro Data", in: T.Brück and H.Lehmann (Eds.), "In the Grip of Transition: Economic and Social Consequences of Restructuring in Russia and Ukraine", 2012, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 7-46.
"The Evolution of Labor Relations inside a Russian Firm during Late Transition: Evidence from Personnel Data", in: T. Brück and H. Lehmann (Eds.), "In the Grip of Transition: Economic and Social Consequences of Restructuring in Russia and Ukraine", 2012, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 98-127.
"The Effect of Transition on Women in Ukrainian Industry: An Exploration of the ULFS Panel Data", in: T.Brück and H.Lehmann (Eds.), “In the Grip of Transition: Economic and Social Consequences of Restructuring in Russia and Ukraine", 2012, Palgrave Macmillan, pp.156-172.
"Labor Market Restructuring and Poverty: Household Evidence from Ukraine", in: T.Brück and H.Lehmann (Eds.), “Economic and Social Consequences of Restructuring in Russia and Ukraine”, 2012, Palgrave Macmillan, pp.173-204.
"Returns to schooling in Russia and Ukraine: A semiparametric approach to cross-country comparative analysis", in: Journal of Comparative Economics, 2005, 33(2), 324-350 (IZA DP No. 1325).
"Disentangling Treatment Effects of Active Labor Market Policies: The Role of Labor Force Status Sequences", in: Labour Economics, 2008, 15(6), 1270-1295.
"Investor Protection and the Value of Shares: Evidence from Statutory Rules Governing Variations of Shareholders’ Class Rights in an Emerging Market", in: Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 2013, forthcoming.
