H514

Labor Economics and Employment Relations

Fall 2004

Prof. Mark Pernecky

Reading List/Syllabus

Ch. refers to a chapter in The Economics of Labor Markets, sixth edition, by Bruce Kaufman and Julie Hotchkiss.

LN refers to articles on Lexus Nexus. To access these articles, go to www.Lexis-Nexis.com/universe , and utilize the Quick or Guided News Search from the home page by typing in the title. Or, click “sources” and then type in the publication, such as “Business Week”. Then, click on “Search This Title” and follow the instructions. For certain newspapers like the Wall Street Journal, you may want to type in the article title using ProQuest Newsstand Complete from the St. Olaf library indexes instead of Lexis-Nexis.

I. Introduction

Ch. 1 “The Labor Market,” (excluding pp. 4-7 “Unique Features of the Labor Market”).

II. Labor Supply

Ch. 2 “Hours of Work,” (excluding pp. 85-90 “Supply-Side Economics and Labor Supply”).

LN “Salary Rules take Overtime to Figure Out,” San Antonio Express-News , 8/21/04, p. 1A.

LN “Change on the Way?” The Economist 7/17/04, p. 52.

LN “Fueling Frustration: For Many Low-Income Workers, High Gasoline Prices Take a Toll,” Wall Street Journal , 7/12/04, pp. 18 Sect. A.

Ch. 3 “Labor Force Participation,” (excluding pp.124-132 “A Household Model of Labor Supply”; excluding pp. 134-138 “Social Security and Private Pensions”; excluding pp. 149-153 “A Bargaining Model of Family Labor Supply”; excluding pp. 153-156 “Labor Force Growth During Recessions”; and excluding pp. 164-168 “Appendix 3A”).

LN “The Rise of the Mompreneurs,” Business Week 6/07/04, pp. 70-72.

LN “Ask Not What You Can Do For Marriage; Ask What Marriage Can Do For Your Bottom Line,” by Hal Varian, The New York Times 7/29/04, p. 2 sect. C (try typing “married men” to search in LN.

III. Labor Demand

Ch. 4 “The Demand for Labor in the Short Run” (excluding pp. 204-209 “Wage Subsidy Programs”; and excluding pp. 209-214 “Imports and the Demand for Labor”).

LN “Northwest Airlines Pilots Prefer Pay Cuts to Work Rule Changes,” Star Tribune 5/26/04, pp. 1, 4 sect. D

LN “NWA Seeking less in Pilot Pay Cuts,” Star Tribune 6/19/04, p. 1 sect. D.

LN “NWA Tells Workers that their Pay Cuts will Pay Off,” Star Tribune 7/09/04, pp. 1, 4, sect. D.

LN “The Costco Way,” Business Week 4/12/04, pp. 76-78.

LN “A New Pay Scheme for Wal-Mart Workers,” Business Week 6/14/04, p. 39.

Ch. 5 “The Demand for Labor in the Long Run” (excluding pp. 238-244 “Technological Change and Labor Demand”; and excluding pp. 247-251 “Employment Forecasting”).

LN “Productivity: Who Wins, Who Loses,” Business Week 3/22/04, pp. 44-46.

LN “The New Global Job Shift,” Business Week 2/3/03, pp. 50-60.
LN “Offshore Jobs Bring Gains at Home,” Star Tribune 9/05/04, pp. 1, 10 sect. A.

LN “Shifting Work Offshore? Outsourcer Beware,” Business Week 1/12/04, pp. 36-7.

IV. Labor Markets and the Determination of Wages

Ch. 6 “The Determination of Wages,” (excluding pp. 285-297 “Market Adjustment and the Minimum Wage”; and excluding pp. 310-317 “Wages of Hospital and Electrical Workers”).

Ch. 13 “Causes of Unemployment,” pp. 709-711 “Efficiency Wages”.

Film: “The High Price of Health”

LN “Nursing: On the Critical List,” Business Week 6/3/02, p. 81.

LN “Nursing Back to Health,” The Daily News of Los Angeles 3/28/04, p. B1.

LN “Filipino Nurses Help fill Nursing Shortage in Tucson, Arizona,” Arizona Daily Star 4/06/04.

LN “New Clues to the Pay and Leadership Gap,” Business Week 10/27/03, p. 36.

LN “Working and Poor,” Business Week 5/31/04, pp. 58-67.

LN “Bush's Cynical Immigration Gambit,” Business Week 2/09/04, pp. 20-1.

LN “The Future of Work,” Business Week 3/22/04, pp. 50-52.

LN “Jobs: Innovation is the Answer, and Washington Must Help,” Business Week 3/22/04, p. 128.

Film: “Affluenza”.

V. Human Capital Investment

Ch. 7 “Education, Training, and Earnings Differentials: the Theory of Human Capital,” (excluding pp. 343-354 “Schooling and the Distribution of Individual Earnings”).

LN “Waking Up From the American Dream,” Business Week 12/01/03, p. 54.

LN “A British Solution to America's College Tuition Problem?”

Business Week 2/09/04, pp. 72-3.

VI. Distribution of Income by Occupation

Ch. 8 “Occupational Wage Differentials” (excluding pp. 403-408, “The Hedonic Theory of Compensating Wage Differentials”; excluding pp. 435-436 “The Cases For and Against Government Regulation”; excluding pp. 436-438 “The Size of Compensating Wage Differentials”; and excluding pp. 449-453 “Appendix 8A”).

LN “Pensions on a Precipice,” Business Week , 9/6/04, pp. 52-4.

VII. Discrimination

Ch. 9 “Discrimination in the Labor Market,” (excluding pp. 494-500 “Government Programs to Combat Discrimination”).

LN “What's in a Name for Black Job Seekers?” Business Week 11/03/03, p.24.

LN “Women's Pay: Why the Gap Remains a Chasm,” Business Week 6/14/04, pp. 58-59.

LN ”So You Want to Hire the Beautiful. Well, Why Not?” Business Week 3/6/98, p. 18.

LN “Workplace Politics,” Star Tribune 5/13/04, pp. 1, 2 sect. D

LN “Suit Claims Man's Religious Freedom is being Thwarted,” Star Tribune 7/02/04, B3.

VIII. Human Resource Management, Unions, and Employment Relations

Ch. 10 “The Economics of Human Resource Management,” (excluding pp. 515-516 “The Pattern of HRM Practice”; excluding pp. 521-543 “The Firm's Demand for HRM Services,” “Issues in Employee Selection,” and “Issues in Compensation Management”; and excluding pp. 558 –562 “The Configuration of Alternative Employment and HRM Systems”).

Ch. 11 “Union Membership and Collective Bargaining,” (excluding pp. 597-602 “A Model of the Bargaining Process”; excluding pp. 604-609 “Outcome of the Bargaining Process”; excluding pp. 626-630 “The Business Cycles”; and excluding the Appendix).

LN “A Breakthrough for Labor,” Business Week 8/2/04, p. 86.

LN “The Rush to Squash a Promising Union Tactic,” Business Week 8/02/04, p. 87.

LN “Strike Averted on Iron Range,” Star Tribune , 7/29/04, pp. 1, 4 sect. D.

LN “NHL's Growing Pains,” Star Tribune 01/22/04, pp. 1,12 sect. C.

LN “Tough Days Ahead for NHL,” Times (Los Angeles) 2/08/04, p. 1 sect. D.

LN “The Coming Ice Age,” The Washington Post 1/17/04, p. 1, Sect. D.

Film: “American Dream”.

Ch. 12 “The Economic Impact of Unions”.

Film: “Organizing America”.

IX. Macroeconomics and Labor Markets

Ch. 13 “Unemployment,” excluding pp. 709 -711 “Efficiency Wages”.

Ch. 3 “Labor Force Growth During Recessions”, pp. 153 – 156.

LN “A Little German Reform Would Go a Long Way,” Business Week 12/01/03, p. 22.

Syllabus

Description

Labor economics investigates how labor markets function and interact with other markets. Households supply labor while firms, governments, and households demand labor. Employment relations between suppliers and demanders of labor play a crucial role in this analysis. A host of topics present themselves, such as labor force participation rates, the length of the workweek, human capital investment in education and other areas, fringe benefits, compensation schemes, unions, turnover, migration, and income distribution. Government decisions concerning issues such as the minimum wage, welfare, health and safety regulation, and discrimination affect labor markets. Labor market analysis occurs at the macroeconomic level, as well as the microeconomic; examples of the former include the impact of fiscal and monetary policies on employment. Labor markets, in turn, affect the overall economy. Institutionalists and radicals offer important insights into the labor market topics considered by neoclassicals, and present new issues.

Textbook

The Economics of Labor Markets , by Bruce Kaufman and Julie Hotchkiss, sixth edition, is available in the bookstore.

Evaluation

There will be a midterm on Friday October 22 that will count for 30% of the total grade. Each student will also participate in 2 debates, each counting for 15% of the total grade. There will also be 5 work sheets. While none of the worksheets will be graded, students should do all of them so that they can discuss their answers in class. Class participation (which requires attendance) will count for 5% of the grade. There will also be a paper due at the beginning of the last class period, Mon. Dec. 13, which will count for 20% of the total grade. It should be 6-8 pages in length, and utilize theory and empirical research from one of the two debate topics assigned to the student; it should include theoretical graphs, a bibliography, and proper citations. It need not be argumentative from either the pro or con side of the issue exclusively, but should “take a stand”. Finally, there will be a final exam counting for 15% of the total grade which will not be cumulative.

The paper should allow students to delve into a specific topic more deeply, and foster written communication. The debates should also increase their understanding of specific topics, and improve group work, research, and oral communication skills. Work sheets, along with the exams, should offer learning experiences that also demonstrate the level of understanding of the material.

Possible Debate Topics : Sen. Kerry's proposed increase in the minimum wage, Labor Standards in Free Trade Agreements, Pres. Bush's proposal to make the 2001 Tax Cuts permanent, partially Privatizing Social Security, reinstating the Military Draft, State Referenda like California's Prop. 209 banning Affirmative Action (in state education, employment and contracting), Online Education eventually replacing Bricks-and-Mortar Colleges and Universities for most Students.

Office Hours

My office hours in HH 406 are

T TH 1:00-3:15.

I'd be happy to make an appointment with you if those times don't work. Or, you may want to email your question to me. I'm usually in my office at other times, but you should try calling me at x-3432 before coming over to make sure I'm in.