Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society: Celebrating 50 years

Art Pulaski

In recognition of its 50 years of publishing, Industrial Relations  will publish selected articles from its 50 year history, which are deemed to be influential or seminal in the fields of study they address. In addition, journal editor in chief Steve Raphael (Goldman School of Public Policy) has gained a second editor in chief, Professor Christopher Carpenter. Prof. Carpenter is Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Paul Merage School of Business, at UC Irvine.

The journal will be establishing an expanded committee of associate editors and add to its roster of reviewers as it begins its 51st year of operation. Also, the journal’s cover has been redesigned, and the new design will appear later this year.

The expanded editorial team will be evaluating some innovations in what types of articles IR will publish. Examples include papers presented at symposia, issues with invited papers on special topics, and articles that will be paired with invited discussants who offer critique of the ideas presented.

 

 

 

CURRENT ISSUE ABSTRACTS  (Volume 50, Issue 4)

Why Are Quit Rates Lower Among Defense Contractors? (pages 573–590)
TODD A. WATKINS and THOMAS HYCLAK
Article first published online: 28 SEP 2011

Abstract
This paper presents empirical evidence of lower quit rates at small manufacturers with defense contracts and examines whether this is associated with differences in their human resource policies and organizational practices and strategies. We take advantage of an original data set to compare labor quits, workforce skills and occupational structure between defense contracting and non-contracting small manufacturers in eastern PA. We find that the remarkably large defense contractor advantage in quit rates—7 percentage points—is almost totally explained by differences in skills, operational strategies, and workforce management and training practices, suggesting a mediation effect through these HR practices. Defense contracting status emerges as an important overlooked variable in HRM studies.


Gender Sorting at the Application Interface (pages 591–609)
ROBERTO M. FERNANDEZ and COLETTE FRIEDRICH
Article first published online: 28 SEP 2011

Abstract
We document gender sorting of candidates into gender-typed jobs at the point of initial application to a company. At this step of the hiring process, the firm has implemented a policy whereby organizational screeners’ discretion has been eliminated such that there is no opportunity for contact between hiring agents and applicants. Thus, the job choices studied here offer unique insight as they are uncontaminated by screeners’ steering of candidates toward gender-typed jobs. Even in the absence of steering, we find clear patterns of gendered job choices that line up with gender stereotypes of job roles. Moreover, these gendered patterns recur both within individuals and within race groups. Comparing our findings to the pattern of job sorting in the external local labor market, we find that supply-side factors do not fully account for the levels job sex segregation observed in the open labor market. Although probably not the entire story, we show clear evidence that supply-side sorting processes are important factors contributing to job sex segregation.


What Would They Do? Childcare under Parental Leave and Reduced Hours Options
(pages 610–628)
ROBERT DRAGO
Article first published online: 28 SEP 2011

Abstract
Time diary data are used to simulate the effects of parental leave and reduced hours arrangements on childcare time among parents of infants. Estimates suggest that coupled fathers would apply approximately around 70 percent of working time reductions under leave or reduced hours to childcare. Both coupled and single mothers translate working time reductions into childcare at higher rates. The analysis highlights inequalities across lines of gender, marital status and socio-economic status associated with existing policies, and suggests policy innovations to both raise parental investments in childcare time and reduce levels of inequality.


The Employment Effects of Lower Minimum Wage Rates for Young Workers:
Canadian Evidence (pages 629–655)
MICHAEL SHANNON
Article first published online: 28 SEP 2011

Abstract
Between 1986 and 1998 six of the ten Canadian provinces abolished their lower minimum wage rates for younger teenage workers. Using data from the Canadian Labour Force Survey this paper evaluates the effects of abolition on the employment and weekly hours worked of 15-16 year-olds using teenagers in provinces where there is no legislative change and young people above the age to which youth rates applied as control groups. The results provide some evidence that abolishing these youth rates significantly lowered employment and work hours of 15-16 year-olds but the lack of evidence for some jurisdictions and patterns of effects using age controls do raise some questions regarding the interpretation of the results.


Compensation Policy and Quit Rates: A Multilevel Approach Using Benchmarking Data
(pages 656–677)
CHRIS RIDDELL
Article first published online: 28 SEP 2011

Abstract
Using unique linked employee-employer benchmarking data, the paper estimates the impact of pay structures on quit rates using multi-level models. The analysis examines several aspects of an organization’s compensation structure with a focus on the effect of pay dispersion between employees at the same level in the firm hierarchy, as well as pay dispersion throughout the hierarchy. Overall, the results indicate that firms with egalitarian pay structures have lower quit rates, a finding that is robust to a large set of empirical specifications.


What Types of Diversity Benefit Workers? Empirical Evidence on the Effects of Co-worker Dissimilarity on the Performance of Employees (pages 678–712)
FIDAN ANA KURTULUS
Article first published online: 28 SEP 2011

Abstract
This paper explores the consequences of grouping workers into diverse divisions on the performance of employees using a dataset containing the detailed personnel records of a large U.S. firm from 1989-1994. In particular, I examine the effects of demographic dissimilarity among co-workers, namely differences in age, gender and race among employees who work together within divisions, and non-demographic dissimilarity, namely differences in education, work function, firm tenure, division tenure, performance and wages among employees within divisions. I find evidence that age dissimilarity, dissimilarity in firm tenure, and performance dissimilarity are associated with lower worker performance, while wage differences are associated with higher worker performance. My analysis also reveals that the effects of certain types of dissimilarities get smaller in magnitude the longer a worker is a part of a division. Finally, the paper provides evidence that the relationships between performance and the various measures of dissimilarity vary by occupational area and division size.


Matching Matters in 401(k) Plan Participation (pages 713–737)
KEENAN DWORAK-FISHER
Article first published online: 28 SEP 2011

Abstract
This study offers new evidence on the effects of the matching contributions made by employers to 401(k) plan accounts on plan participation rates, exploiting microdata from the National Compensation Survey, a large, nationally representative, establishment dataset. It addresses the potential endogeneity of the matching contributions by employing coworker and labor market characteristics as instruments. The results indicate that employer matches have substantial effects. They also indicate that higher match rates tend to be correlated with workers having lower propensities to save; correcting for this endogeneity produces estimates that are bigger than those seen through direct cross-sectional comparisons.

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