Theoretical and Applied Economics
No. 3 / 2015 (604), Autumn
A labor utility index to measure worker welfare and labor market performance
University Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, USA
Deniz GEVREK
University Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, USA
Abstract. This study develops an asymmetric labor utility index (LUI) that is determined by worker preferences for labor and leisure, based upon the target employment preference for individual workers. The welfare index is illustrated for monthly data frequency that is consistent with the current employment data, although any time increment could be used. Once the utility values are computed for a representative sample of workers in a defined region, the average of the data is used to create an aggregate labor utility index (ALUI) for the regional or national labor market. This provides an additional empirical insight into current economic performance beyond the standard U-1 to U-6 labor underutilization measures regularly computed by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The U-6 provides some measure of underemployment, but it does not define a welfare measure that allows comparing the labor market performance from month to month. Moreover, none of the BLS measures account for the disutility of over-employment. We generate an index that accounts for unemployment, underemployment, and overemployment when determining the current overall aggregate labor market welfare in the region.
Contents
A Structural VAR analysis of Fiscal shocks on current accounts in Greece
Is CPI a suitable tool for inflation targeting? A critical view
A new beginning for SMEs development?
About the conceptualization of social innovation
Economic models of voting: an empirical study on the electoral behavior in Romanian 2012 parliamentary elections
Revisit Export and GDP Nexus in China and Taiwan: A Rolling Window Granger Causality Test
Sustainability of balancing item of balance of payment for OECD countries: evidence from Fourier Unit Root Tests
The European Union brand and its appeal to young Europeans – an in-depth perspective from Romanian student
Analysis of final consumption and gross investment influence on GDP – multiple linear regression model
A survey of the effect of trade openness size on inflation rate in Iran using ARDL
A labor utility index to measure worker welfare and labor market performance
Financial development and economic growth in emerging market: bootstrap panel causality analysis
Liquidity ratios. A structural and dynamic analysis, during 2006-2012, of the companies having the business line in industry and construction, listed and traded on the Bucharest Stock Exchange
The Romanian banking sector restructuring and the economic recovery
Towards a sustainable economy
The role and influence of the political factor in establishing the financial and budgetary balance and on national stability
European integration, as an approximation of globalisation: a statistical analysis based on stratified entropy indexes of concentration
The factors that affect on foreign direct investments in Turkey (sectoral comparisons)
Legislative contributions to improving the economic efficiency of the medical laboratories in Romania