Search Results
Report
The impact of migration on earnings inequality in New England
Migration plays an important role in the New England economy; absent immigration, the region?s population and workforce would have shrunk in recent years. Yet increasingly, immigrant inflows have been met with legislative opposition at both the national and regional levels, motivated in part by concerns that immigration may be an important factor driving the marked rise in earnings inequality. The research findings presented in this report, however, indicate that immigration accounts for a very small portion?only 6.0 percent?of the rising earnings inequality that the region has experienced. ...
Working Paper
Occupational Licensing and Occupational Mobility
This paper estimates the impact of occupational licensing at the extensive margin (existence) and intensive margin (qualifications) on the occupational mobility of US workers. Using 2015–2022 Current Population Survey data on worker occupational choices matched to licensing-policy data, I show that the existence of licensing regulation significantly reduces the probability that a worker enters an occupation. This reduced mobility is largely due to licensing fees and minimum thresholds for age and education. This finding may help explain the weak relationship between licensure and product ...
Journal Article
Educational attainment, unemployment, and wage inflation
We investigate the impact of rising educational attainment on wage inflation and the equilibrium (non-inflationary) rate of unemployment. Rising educational attainment may reduce wage pressures by shifting the composition of the labor force towards groups with lower equilibrium unemployment rates, or it may increase wage pressures through increased reliance on groups whose wages are relatively responsive to changes in unemployment. A measure of aggregate unemployment adjusted for changes in the age and education structure of the labor force performs well in Phillips curve estimates of the ...
Briefing
Authorization to Work: The Prevalence of Occupational Licensing in New England
Proponents of occupational licensing—a policy that requires workers to obtain a government-awarded credential before they can legally practice certain professions—argue that it can reduce safety risks to consumers and improve the general quality of goods and services. Opponents argue that, given the mixed evidence of the policy’s benefits to consumers, it may needlessly impede workers’ ability to enter some professions. This Regional Brief examines the prevalence of occupational licensing in New England and considers the implications for the region’s labor markets and product ...
Working Paper
The Impact of Market Factors on Racial Identity: Evidence from Multiracial Survey Respondents
This paper examines the reported race of multiracial persons in the US Current Population Survey (CPS) before 2003, when limited response options exogenously constrained respondents to identify as a single race. Using this survey attribute and the 16-month longitudinal design of the basic monthly CPS, I explore whether market factors help causally determine racial identity. I find that pre-2003 race responds to state-level (1) racial composition, due largely to household composition, and (2) unemployment rates and wages by race. Although these findings suggest potential endogeneity of race, ...
Working Paper
The effect of changing employers’ access to criminal histories on ex-offenders’ labor market outcomes: evidence from the 2010–2012 Massachusetts CORI Reform
Many regard the 2010?2012 Massachusetts Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI)Reform as a national model to improve ex-offenders? labor market outcomes. This reform prohibits most employers from inquiring about an individual?s criminal history on the initial job application (the ?ban the box? reform), and reduces employers? access to an applicant?s criminal record (the record-access reform). Using the CORI Reform as a natural experiment and a unique large confidential dataset linking individuals? CORI records with their unemployment insurance quarterly wage records, we examine the impact ...
Working Paper
The supply side of discrimination: evidence from the labor supply of Boston taxi drivers
This paper investigates supply-side discrimination in the labor market for Boston taxi drivers. Using data on millions of trips from 2010?2015, I explore whether the labor supply behavior of taxi drivers differs by the gender, racial/ethnic, or age composition of Boston neighborhoods. I find that disparities in shift hours due to neighborhood demographics exist even when differences in local earnings opportunities are taken into account. I observe heterogeneity in the amount that drivers discriminate and find that this discrimination is primarily statistical rather than taste-based. As ...
Working Paper
Does changing employers’ access to criminal histories affect ex-offenders’ recidivism?: evidence from the 2010–2012 Massachusetts CORI Reform
This paper examines how changes in employers? access to job applicants? criminal histories affect ex-offender recidivism. We use extensive state administrative data on individual criminal histories spanning the 2010?2012 Massachusetts Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) Reform, widely regarded as landmark legislation governing access to individuals? criminal information. The CORI Reform: i) banned inquiring about criminal history on initial job applications, and ii) broadened the list of groups eligible to use the state?s criminal records repository while simultaneously restricting ...
Working Paper
The impact of migration on earnings inequality
This paper examines the impact of migration on earnings inequality using 1940?2015 data from the U.S. census and American Community Survey. Despite measurement challenges, I successfully replicate existing findings regarding national trends in earnings inequality and migration, and subsequently analyze regional and state patterns. Using 1940 birthplace information to instrument for migration, I find that recent immigration mildly increases the top decile earnings share, while recent in-migration and out-migration have no significant effects on such inequality. I estimate that immigration ...
Report
Can subsidized housing help address homelessness in New England?
This report examines the scope of homelessness in New England and the potential role of subsidized housing in alleviating homelessness in the region. The report finds that the number of sheltered homeless families in Massachusetts and Vermont is on the rise, driving an increase in measured homelessness in New England. The authors consider three theories for the cause of the increase: the interaction of national market forces and area-specific shelter policies, area-specific market forces, and challenges in accurately measuring the homeless population. The research also explores the extent to ...