Journal article
The Low-Pay No-Pay Cycle: Are There Systematic Differences across Demographic Groups?
YK Fok, R Scutella, R Wilkins
Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics | WILEY-BLACKWELL | Published : 2015
DOI: 10.1111/obes.12084
Abstract
We investigate transitions between unemployment, low-paid employment and higher-paid employment using dynamic panel data methods applied to household panel data. We find state dependence in both unemployment and low-paid employment and evidence of a low-pay no-pay cycle. However, we also find significant differences in effects across population subgroups. Typically, the young and better-educated face lower penalties from unemployment and low-paid employment. Further, low-paid employment is preferable to unemployment for women regardless of their demographic characteristics, but for men who have only completed secondary schooling, low-paid employment actually decreases the chances of entering..
View full abstractGrants
Funding Acknowledgements
This research was conducted as part of ARC linkage project 'Job retention and advancement for disadvantaged jobseekers' with the Brotherhood of St Laurence (LP0776894). The paper uses the confidentialized unit record file from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. The HILDA Project was initiated and is funded by the Commonwealth Department of Social Services (DSS) and is managed by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (MIAESR). The findings and views reported in this paper, however, are those of the authors and should not be attributed to either DSS or the MIAESR.