Mind the Gap: A Detailed Picture of the Immigrant-Native Earnings Gap in the UK Using Longitudinal Data Between 1978 and 2006 Using the underexplored, sizeable and long Lifetime Labour Market Database (LLMDB) we estimated the immigrant-native earnings gap across the entire earnings distribution, across continents of nationality and across cohorts of arrival in the UK between 1978 and 2006. We e...

Earnings and Occupational Attainment: Immigrants and the Native Born This paper examines the determinants of occupational attainment and the impact of occupation on earnings. Results for both the native born and foreign born are presented, and these provide insights as to the earnings penalties associated with the less-than-perfect international transferability of human capital skills. It shows...

The Politicians’ Wage Gap: Insights from German Members of Parliament Using a unique dataset of German members of parliament with information on total earnings including outside income, this paper analyzes the politicians’ wage gap (PWG). After controlling for observable characteristics as well as accounting for selection into politics, we find a positive PWG which is statistically and economic...

Income Inequality, Equality of Opportunity, and Intergenerational Mobility Families, labor markets, and public policies all structure a child’s opportunities and determine the extent to which adult earnings are related to family background. Cross-country comparisons and the underlying trends suggest that these drivers will most likely lower the degree of intergenerational earnings mobility for ...

This paper utilizes the self-employed to analyze the observed increase in the educational earnings premium in the 1980’s. The paper compares the predictions of the signaling and human capital models in response to an exogenous demand shock such as a skill-biased technological change. Since the self-employed have no incentive to invest in a costly signal to show to employers their productivity, ...

This paper examines whether workers with limited English skills suffer adverse effects in the labor market when states declare English the official language. Official English laws may harm individuals who do not speak English very well if employers view the laws as allowing or requiring them to adopt workplace Englishonly rules that lower the demand for limited-English-proficient workers. Using...

The influence of physical appearance in the labour market is examined using longitudinal cohort data covering 11,407 individuals born in Britain in 1958. Results show that physical appearance has a substantial effect on earnings and employment patterns for both men and women. Irrespective of gender, those who are assessed as unattractive or short, experience a significant earnings penalty. Tall...

The Earnings Effect of Education at Community Colleges In this paper, I make use of data from the 2000 follow-up of the National Education Longitudinal Survey (NELS) post-secondary education transcript files to extend what is known about the value of education at community colleges. I examine the effects of enrollment in community colleges on students’ subsequent earnings. I estimate the effect...

We examine the impact of moving home, the distance moved and reasons for moving on both household income and labour market earnings for a representative sample of individuals using panel data. Our results suggest that there are monetary returns to migration which apply to both household income and labour market earnings. However, not all migrants enjoy these returns, which depend on distance mo...

Do Poor Children Become Poor Adults? Lessons from a Cross Country Comparison of Generational Earnings Mobility A cross country comparison of generational earnings mobility is offered, and the reasons for the degree to which the long run labour market success of children is related to that of their parents is examined. The rich countries differ significantly in the extent to which parental econo...