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Context: Existing studies have explored the association between workplace training and wages suggesting that training participation may have a positive association with wages. However, we still know very little about whether this association varies between men and women. Through its potential positive association with wages, training may balance wage differences between men and women. In addition, the gender wage gap varies across the wage distribution. Differences in the association between training participation and wages for men and women across the earnings spectrum may offer an explanation as to why the discrepancy in female/male earnings is larger at some point of the wage distribution compared to others. Approach: Using data from the Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and unconditional quantile regression, this paper examines whether the association between workplace training and wages differs between men and women at different points of the wage distribution across 14 European countries. To partly control for endogeneity in training participation, detailed measures of cognitive skills have been included in the models. Findings: Findings show gender differences in the association between training and wages across the wage distribution. In most countries, results indicate larger training coefficients for women than men at the lower end of the wage spectrum whereas they are larger for men at the top. This pattern holds across most countries with the only exception of Liberal ones, where women benefit less than men across the entire wage spectrum. Conclusions: The findings of this work reveal that distributional variations in returns to workplace training follow a similar pattern across industrialized countries, despite their different institutional settings. Moreover, differences in training coefficients of men and women at different parts of the wage distribution suggest that training could reduce gender wage differences among low earners and potentially widen the gap in wages among individuals at the top of the wage distribution.

The Erasmus programme represents one of the most popular policy measures of the European Union among its citizens. The aim of this paper is to explore the causal effect of this mobility action on labour market outcomes and skills' development in Spain. In order to do so, this research exploits the Spanish University Students Employability Survey 2014 an employs and instrumental variables strategy, based on the supply of Erasmus scholarships by area of studies and region of residence, to address the potential endogeneity of the participation in the programme. On the one hand, the empirical results suggest that studying abroad has a positive effect on the probability of becoming an entrepreneur, working in a foreign country and the formation of Information Communication and Communication skills. On the other hand, they do not reveal any significant impact of participating in this programme on the likelihood of employment and several working conditions.

Many Industrial Design professionals in Spain have difficulties when it comes to getting a job related to their field. They also have difficulties incorporating into the labor market as what they have learnt as students does not correspond with the demands of the labour market as far as industrial designers are concerned. By using a nationally representative survey sample of 195 professionals and 36 companies, this paper analyzes competencies, skills and knowledge acquired in Industrial Design Engineering and Product Development Degree, as well as the requirements of the labor market in order to check if this degree has correctly been adapted to the spanish workplace. Results shows the acquired skills' level is not bad, as a general rule, but this does not mean the labor market needs are fulfilled. There are even more differences between what has been learnt and what is demanded. There is too much content as far as variety is concerned that is generally not demanded by companies. Other demanded knowledge and skills are not taught at all or in a scarce and an insufficient way. This research invite engineering educators and businesses to collaborate redefining skills, competencies and knowledge correctly by transforming the degree's academic plans.

Across Europe, assumptions are often made within the academic literature and by some social commentators that students have come to understand the purpose of higher education (HE) in increasingly instrumental terms. This is often linked to processes of marketisation and neo-liberalisation across the Global North, in which the value of HE has come to be associated with economic reward and labour market participation and measured through a relatively narrow range of metrics. It is also associated with the establishment, in 2010, of the European Higher Education Area, which is argued to have brought about the refiguration of European universities around an Anglo-American model. Scholars have contended that students have become consumer-like in their behaviour and preoccupied by labour market outcomes rather than processes of learning and knowledge generation. Often, however, such claims are made on the basis of limited empirical evidence, or a focus on policies and structures rather than the perspectives of students themselves. In contrast, this paper draws on a series of 54 focus groups with 295 students conducted in six European countries (Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Poland and Spain). It shows how understandings of the purpose of HE are more nuanced than much of the extant literature suggests and vary, at least to some extent, by both nation-state and higher education institution. Alongside viewing the purpose of HE as preparing them for the labour market, students emphasised the importance of tertiary-level study for personal growth and enrichment, and societal development and progress. These findings have implications for policy and practice. In particular, the broader purposes of HE, as articulated by the students in this study, should be given greater recognition by policymakers, those teaching in HE, and the wider public instead of, as is often the case, positioning students as consumers, interested in only economic gain.

Even though undeniable social changes such as gender discrimination have occurred, the forms of access to public education and employment, as well as the conditions under which these jobs are carried out, are often loaded with sexist biases. Using the biographical-narrative method and a combination of techniques and strategies for gathering and analysing information, the current paper presents an empirical longitudinal study examining the labour situation of rural women who participate in different employment--professional and guidance--training activities. The women's perceptions and interpretations of their training and professional situations were analysed, as well as their opportunities related to finding a job when they completed their education. Additionally, this study examined the extent to which the public services for employment training were adequate and functional for women regarding whether these services achieved their anticipated aims. We concluded gender inequalities on the employment situation of women, and the importance of implementing urgent measures to fight against the employment crisis from an equality way.

This paper presents one of the first cross-nationally comparative studies on the economic and social returns to grit (perseverance and passion for long-term goals). Specifically, we investigated whether grit incrementally predicted objective (income) and subjective (job satisfaction) career success over and above cognitive skills and educational attainment; whether grit's association with career success was moderated by individual characteristics; whether grit's associations with career success varied across countries; and whether this variation could be explained by labour market conditions (unemployment rates). Multi-group structural equation models with data from 6,738 respondents from 19 countries revealed that grit was incrementally associated with income and job satisfaction in some but not all countries. Grit's effect sizes were mostly modest, yet there were some indications for variations by education and labour market conditions. Overall, these findings suggest that the associations between grit and career success are not uniform but vary across individuals and contexts.

In this paper, the authors first discuss the Neumark and Troske piece, and then compare the U.S. context to that in Europe and Korea, as described by the Caspar, Hartwig, and Moench and the Cho and Shin contributions. Although they are in basic agreement with Neumark and Troske on the extent and depth of the current employment situation, they differ to some extent in terms of remedies. While Neumark and Troske argue that the stimulus packages had a very small impact on the economy, the authors feel that this may be too negative an assessment, especially given the larger global financial forces that seem to overwhelm domestic job creation efforts. The European and Korean papers contribute an important comparative perspective on the recession. As Cho and Shin argue, Korea fared very well due to rising demand for domestic consumption and a very small welfare state. However, Korean institutions are hard to convert or directly compare to those in the United States. It is hard to tell a "European story" because of the large difference in institutions and the differing impacts of the recession. Germany and Scandinavia have clearly done much better than Spain, Greece, or Ireland. Caspar, Hartwig, and Moench emphasize that if the gains are to be longer term, there needs to be "structural reform" of the labor market--to "strengthen labor market policies that reduce structural unemployment rates, increase labor market participation, strengthen the reallocation of labor toward a smart, sustainable, and inclusive economy, and promote social cohesion by targeting specific groups of workers." All of this sounds great, but how does the United States move toward these goals? It is harder than one might expect to extract some clear lessons about how deeper economic pain could have been avoided or how one might be able to make more significant or rapid progress in pulling the U.S. labor market out of its malaise. If anything, the authors find that, of the nations examined in this set of articles, each has a different story to tell about the great recession, and the reality is that in every case, the stories are not yet fully told. (Contains 1 table.)

Older people suffer discrimination in the labour market, in that their chances of finding employment if they lose their jobs are small, and the longer someone is out of the labour market, the harder it is to return. Although they often do possess the technical and transferrable skills required, these are not always recognised. Those who remain in work also encounter discrimination. They are unlikely to receive ongoing training and encouragement for career development, especially if their existing skills and qualifications are at a low level. This paper is focusing on the Spanish situation, looking at the actions and methods in careers guidance for older workers. For this purpose 52 websites of Spanish trade unions were visited during 2010. Using the main findings of 131 questionnaires from 48 employers' organisations, 41 trade unions and 28 public employment services from across the country, we look at guidance from a macro and micro perspective: how guidance is provided and who the main beneficiaries are. We conclude that in the Spanish labour context, there is a specific need to improve the coordination and effective publicity regarding existing guidance services and their accessibility. Evidence shows that those who make least use of the careers guidance services are the older workers aged 50 to 55 years, and no special attention is given to meeting their needs.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into the way leisure activities and soft skills relate to creativity in higher education. It determines which activities have a positive impact on the student body's overall education. Previous research evidences the relationship between specific leisure activities and creativity performance in several scenarios. Our work applies a broad range of these leisure activities to find results within our own specific student population. Design/methodology/approach: The methodology is based on a survey of 303 Spanish students in Business Administration and Tourism. The study uses two instruments to measure the creativity of students, the Runco Ideational Behavior Scale (RIBS) and a three-dimensional construct that measures divergent thinking (originality, fluency and flexibility). Findings: The results reveal that the average for creativity is higher for those students participating in some of the activities proposed. A positive correlation was also observed between the number of leisure activities and the creativity measures analysed. This confirms that students participating in more leisure activities display higher levels of creativity. Finally, the results display that the vast majority of students are involved in some type of activity, but two of the interpersonal skills that companies appreciate the most (reading and writing) are performed by very few students. This is especially the case of writing. Originality/value: This study contributes to the pedagogical strategies that can be used in universities to motivate practising leisure activities as a mean of fostering creativity. It is important to note that the involvement of students in leisure activities can benefit from their integration into the labour market.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the level of correspondence between the academic training received by students and the demands of the job market. This was achieved by analysing the competences that are developed in internships to provide useful information for universities, students and tourism companies. Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative analysis was carried out using questionnaires administered to the supervisors of students on curricular internships. The level of tourism competences of students on the bachelor degree in Tourism and Hospitality Management at the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management Sant Ignasi was assessed. A descriptive analysis and comparisons of means were carried out to investigate differences in competences between students undertaking internships, according to the hotel department and category. Findings: The results of the study indicate that students undertaking internships improve their competences. Whether they undertake internships in one department or another does not affect the level of achievement of most competences. However, the category of a hotel does influence the level of development of the acquired competences. Research limitations/implications: A questionnaire should be administered to students on their perceptions of the achievement of competences, as this could be compared with the supervisors' perceptions. Practical implications: The study generates extremely valuable information for companies, universities and students, as it reveals which competences are attained and to what extent. Based on these results, universities can adapt their training activities and the hotel industry will have information on learning processes during internships. Originality/value: The analysis provides an innovative research, a real assessment by employers of the competences attained. It also identifies the need for more research on the subject related to employers' perceptions of the level of competences that students develop in the workplace.

Purpose: This paper aims to explore structural and systemic influences in the development of competence models and qualifications systems at sectoral and national levels across Europe, considering the influences of different socio-economic models of skill formation on the processes of design and provision of qualifications. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a meta analysis of three European projects that used literature review, documentary analysis and interviews with practitioners and policy makers. Findings: The main methodological and practical challenges posed by varieties of competence and qualifications to inter-country comparability of qualifications are shown to be related to different socio-economic models of skill formation. Research limitations/implications: The research is limited to 13 countries and four sectors but these were carefully selected to maximise coverage of European diversity with respect to competence models, training regimes and approaches to qualifications. There is clearly a need for further research involving more countries and sectors. Practical implications: The paper offers recommendations for improving the potential of the European Qualifications Framework to promote comparability of qualifications and hence mobility of labour. These recommendations will be of interest to policy makers and practitioners involved in using the EQF and similar instruments. Originality/value: This is the first systematic attempt to explore the methodological and practical difficulties of establishing comparability between qualifications. (Contains 4 tables.)

The concept of learning outcomes is at the heart of many research programmes and policy responses. International surveys (from the International Adult Literacy Survey, back in the mid-nineties, to the forthcoming Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes two OECD surveys), National Qualifications Frameworks or the European Qualifications Framework engineered by the European Commission and the most recent laws and policies on recognition of non-formal and informal learning outcomes (RNFILO), all rely on the concept of learning outcomes. This paper claims that it is no coincidence that the concept of learning outcomes is at the core of these seemingly unrelated policies, programmes and research projects. Learning outcomes provide a base for equitable assessment in the world of education and lifelong learning. Learning outcomes also are relevant to the labour market and the expectations of end-users such as employers. It also claims that, beyond the hype and some misunderstanding, approaches relying on learning outcomes bring more equity to the world of education and training and to the world of work. This paper aims at focusing on RNFILO as a policy tool, and insists on possible applications and policy implementation. It proposes a definition of the key terms, a possible rationale for organising recognition programmes, and a list of pros and cons for doing so. (Contains 5 notes.)

This paper examines the determination of wage rates for health professionals using three well known, and commonly used, econometric techniques: ordinary least squares, instrumental variables, and Heckman's method. The data come from a graduate survey and the analysis focuses on a regional labor market, due to nationwide information on salaries is absent in Spain. After estimating different wage equations, the results suggest that OLS estimates are preferable. The findings show an important wage premium for medical doctors relative to nurses, but also a wage advantage for workers who are civil servants and a gender wage-gap that favors men. Although the expansion of higher education in Spain has reduced social inequalities in access, the main policy implication from this paper is that social class differences can still persist at the degree level--in the choice of degree--if students of higher socioeconomic status get a place at university in a degree of higher earnings, a fact that is corroborated in this study.

The aim of this paper is to study occupational segregation by gender in Spain, which is a country where occupational segregation explains a large part of the gender wage gap. As opposed to previous studies, this paper measures not only overall segregation, but also the segregation of several population subgroups. For this purpose, this paper uses new measures recently proposed by Alonso-Villar and Del Rio (Local versus overall segregation measures, Documento de Traballo 0802, Departamento de Economia Aplicada, Universidade de Vigo, 2008). Moreover, two decompositions of their local segregation curves are proposed, which allows us to go further in the empirical analysis.

This paper presents the main results obtained from 40 in-depth interviews with persons in charge of human resources and/or company directors, and from a questionnaire targeting 872 companies surveyed from a data base of the 5,000 main Spanish companies. The objectives of this paper are the following: first, to identify the competencies required of university graduates by the labour market; second, to find out the mismatches that may exist between the current higher education students receive and company demands; and third, to discover how and to what extent universities can improve their education and training in order to reduce the gap that, according to employers, exists between current business needs and the education that graduates have upon entering the labour market. To carry out this research project, the competencies under study have been divided into two large groups: vocational and generic. At the same time, the latter have been subdivided into three subgroups: knowledge-related, methodological, and interpersonal competencies. (Contains 1 table and 1 note.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effectiveness of entrepreneurship training programmes targeting post-graduate students. Design/methodology/approach: The approach takes the form of a case study of an entrepreneurship training programme, to assess its effectiveness. For this purpose the paper concentrates on the number of firms created and industries chosen by individuals. Additionally, attention is focused on non-starters, analysing the main reasons behind the decision not to set up a firm. Several sources were used to accomplish the objectives: an assessment report provided by the deliverers of the programme, an interview with the person responsible for the programme and interviews with programme participants. Findings: Two editions of the programme "Comecar" are closely scrutinized, including a self-assessment made by developers of the programme. Results show a success rate of 41 per cent, but non-starters benefit from the competencies developed in the programme, allowing them to change their careers or to increase their effectiveness in the labour market. Research limitations/implications: The paper presents some limitations. First, this programme is not compared at the same level of analysis, against others. The literature concludes that the entrepreneurial context is relevant in assessing the level of entrepreneurship. Second, a control group who had an idea but did not benefit from entrepreneurship assistance is not followed. Third, the timeframe of analysis is not too long. A longitudinal study will overcome this problem. Practical implications: The case study can help promoters to design more effective programmes, especially those targeted at postgraduates. Combining classes with experience in the field could help young graduates to overcome their vulnerability which is due to their youthfulness and lack of work experience. Originality/value: The paper identifies good practice in entrepreneurship training programmes. Additionally, it analyses the effectiveness of these programmes, measured by perceived effectiveness from the point of view of participants and by the number of firms created, an area so far characterized by scant research. (Contains 4 figures and 7 tables.)

Purpose: The curricular profile that businesses demand from their workers is undergoing considerable change, especially in regard to university graduates. Considering the functions that are associated with universities, they should respond to these business demands. As a result, they should educate their students following curricula that fit the needs of the labour market. This fit would allow improving the employability of university graduates. The objectives of this work consist of determining the competencies that firms demand from university graduates and determining the curricula that universities follow to educate their students. Design/methodology/approach: Through a comparison of these objectives, the paper analyses the mismatches that exist between these competencies and the curricula, and action lines are proposed to correct them. Findings: The results show the various competencies that universities must improve upon in the education of their students. This improvement would mean a better fit between university curricula and business demands. Research limitations/implications: The research was applied in one region of Spain, and it would be appropriate to expand it to the entire country. Practical implications: University managers can use the information obtained from this study as the basis for designing and subsequently implementing action lines that allow improving the curricular profile of university graduates. Originality/value: There are few papers that analyse the competencies that firms demand from university graduates and that determine the curricula that universities follow to educate their students. (Contains 2 tables, 4 figures, and 4 notes.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to validate the self-perceived employability (SPE) scale (Rothwell et al., 2008) and explore its relationship with sociodemographic variables in Spain. The SPE is an employability scale designed to examine undergraduates' expectations and self-perceptions of employability. The SPE includes internal and external dimensions of employability and has been satisfactorily tested in a variety of contexts. Design/methodology/approach: The sample comprised 1,502 Spanish undergraduate students from a broad range of subject areas. Confirmatory factor analyses and exploratory factor analyses were conducted. Finally, the Spanish-self-perceived employability (S-SPE) was studied in relation to a set of demographic variables. Findings: The results revealed similar findings to those reported by Rothwell et al. (2008), namely, four factors labeled: the external labor market's demand for people in my subject field, my confidence in my skills and abilities, the status and credibility of my field of study and my engagement with my studies and academic performance. The external and internal employability dimensions were obtained by forcing a two-factor solution. Men scored higher than women in the S-SPE; science students scored higher than arts and humanities undergraduates and students with higher perceived income levels scored higher than those with lower perceived income levels. Originality/value: The S-SPE can be used with Spanish speaking university students (Spanish being the second most widely spoken language in the world) and allows cross-cultural comparisons of undergraduates' SPE. The S-SPE may help guide the development of social policies and programs designed to enhance employability. It can be used with undergraduates as a diagnostic instrument in career counseling, and as a self-assessment instrument which will enable undergraduates to acquire a greater degree of self-knowledge in relation to their employability.

Ample evidence indicates that a person's human capital is important for success on the labor market in terms of both wages and employment prospects. However, unlike the efforts to identify the impact of school attainment on labor-market outcomes, the literature on returns to cognitive skills has not yet provided convincing evidence that the estimated returns can be causally interpreted. Using the PIAAC Survey of Adult Skills, this paper explores several approaches that aim to address potential threats to causal identification of returns to skills, in terms of both higher wages and better employment chances. We address measurement error by exploiting the fact that PIAAC measures skills in several domains. Furthermore, we estimate instrumental-variable models that use skill variation stemming from school attainment and parental education to circumvent reverse causation. Results show a strikingly similar pattern across the diverse set of countries in our sample. In fact, the instrumental-variable estimates are consistently larger than those found in standard least-squares estimations. The same is true in two "natural experiments," one of which exploits variation in skills from changes in compulsory-schooling laws across U.S. states. The other one identifies technologically induced variation in broadband Internet availability that gives rise to variation in ICT skills across German municipalities. Together, the results suggest that least-squares estimates may provide a lower bound of the true returns to skills in the labor market.

Purpose: The authors' goal in this paper is to study if there are long-run effects on the wages of those workers who entered the labour market overeducated but who have, over time, been able to overcome this situation by obtaining a job for which they are correctly matched. Design/methodology/approach: This study universe is constituted by workers entering the labour market with a university degree between 2004 and 2012. The age range of these individuals is between 22 and 35 years old. With the data of the 8,359 selected individuals, the authors have constructed a balanced panel covering the period 2013–2017. This methodology is developed in two steps. First, the authors estimate a wage equation with the traditional variables and, second, the authors use the estimated coefficients of these variables to predict the wage paths of a representative individual in each group. Findings: The main result the authors obtain indicates that the wages of those who manage to overcome an initial situation of overeducation do converge but very slowly to the respective wages of those others that entered the labour market correctly matched from the beginning. The authors consider this result to point towards the existence of scarring effects in wages induced by an initial situation of overeducation. The authors also present evidence, beyond education, about the influence that the occupational characteristics that a worker has on wages. Research limitations/implications: The factors that can influence the catching-up of wages are multiple, and it is not feasible to test all of them empirically. Therefore, the wage convergence process the authors present may also be influenced by other variables for which the authors do not have information. Practical implications: This paper contributes to different branches of the labour market. First, the authors present new evidence within the literature dealing with the so-called scarring effects on wages related to the conditions entering the labour market. Secondly, this study's results provide a new argument that complements those developed so far that explain a reduction in the wage skill premium detected among young graduates in Spain. Finally, this paper contributes to advancing research about the effects that overeducation has on wages. Originality/value: The question the authors are attempting to answer in this paper can be formulated in the following terms: when a worker manages to overcome an initial situation of overeducation, what happens to his/her wage? Will it adjust quickly to the new working situation, or will we observe a slow convergence to the wages of workers with an employment history without overeducation situations? To the best of the authors' knowledge, this topic has not yet been studied. Researchers have mostly focused their attention on comparing the wages of overeducated workers with the wages of those who are correctly matched. In this case, the authors compare the wages of correctly matched workers, but with the difference that some were initially overeducated and others were not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Higher School of Agronomic and Forestry Engineering of the University of Cordoba, a collective project conceived as an 'ecosystem to support and accompany entrepreneurs' has been proposed. The approach aims to spread and consolidate the entrepreneurial spirit and to respond to the demands of possible stakeholders involved in the whole process of training, as well as the subsequent integration of graduates into the labour market. Putting into practice this initiative, which involves multiple actors, is a complex and difficult task. For this reason, prior to its implementation, the authors considered it necessary to listen to main stakeholders' opinions and evaluate their degree of commitment and the requirements they consider important for the viability and sustainability of the initiative. This paper focuses on the faculty's opinions, gathered by means of a survey conducted with the entire faculty (N = 128, response rate = 45%) and semi-structured interviews held with 20 members of the School board. The results suggest that there is a general consensus on the suitability of this collective project and that there is a core of teachers willing to get involved. Evidently, guidelines need to be produced to facilitate taking on such tasks. However, the main drawbacks are related with the conflict between formal requirements of professor professional profile and the steps needed to establish the ecosystem.

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The aim of this paper is to provide a comparative analysis of higher education and the graduate labour markets in selected European countries (France, Germany, Spain and United Kingdom) in the context of the expectations of graduates and prospective employers, and respective recruitment and selection practices. Expectations of graduating students from a number of European collaborating universities are sought and analysed in order to find out about a match between the knowledge and skills of graduates and the needs of European employers. The study examines the process of graduate recruitment, employee and employer expectations, and the role of higher education institutions in meeting such expectations. Primary data was gathered from 252 employers and 485 final year (graduating) students through the use of questionnaires. The analysis of the data collected has revealed different approaches to but similar methods of graduate recruitment between the four countries. Despite the current differences in higher education systems and labour market trends, the expectations of employers and graduating students are more similar than different. It is concluded that EU graduates will have good employment prospects in an integrated labour market.

In this paper we investigate the determinants of regret of study program for tertiary education graduates in Spain and the Netherlands. These two countries differ in their educational system in terms of the tracking structure in their secondary education and the strength of their education-labor market linkages in tertiary education. Therefore, by comparing Spain and the Netherlands, we aim at learning about the consequences that the two educational systems might have on the regret of study program in tertiary education. Basing on the psychological literature on regret, we derive some expectations on the determinants of regret of study program. Results reveal that both, education track and education-labor mismatch of tertiary education, are important determinants of the likelihood of program regret. Results allow us to derive some policy recommendations on the tertiary education system.

Guidance has a role to play in helping older workers to lead meaningful and fruitful lives; inside, outside, on the edge of the labour market, or in voluntary work with examples from two very different European countries: Denmark and Spain. This paper aims to draw attention to older workers guidance from an economic policy approach. It will be demonstrated that there is a need for more policy making for older workers' guidance in both countries.

The present paper focuses on transitions from school to work for recent higher education graduates in Catalonia, Spain. In particular, we concentrate on the relationship between mismatch and disappointment with the chosen university career. For that purpose, we employ cross-sectional survey data provided by The Quality Assurance Agency for the University System in Catalonia, covering a sample of individuals who graduated in the 1997/98 academic year from one of the seven public Catalan universities. The results show that regretting the chosen field of education turns out to be associated with mismatch as well as other factors: personality, ageing, educational characteristics (such as final university grades or the specific field of study) and regretting the attended institution. (Contains 2 tables, 1 figure and 3 notes.)

One of the challenges raised by proactive employment policies centres on redressing inequalities that are not solely of an economic nature, as others may also be added of a social and ethnic nature as well as personal, cultural and educational aspects. This article analyses the situation in which groups at risk of social exclusion find themselves by using methodological references collected at a local employment observatory created for such a purpose. The social fabric of the business world was appraised as part of this process, to gain a picture of employer needs, their premises and constraints. Furthermore, a study was carried out on the most relevant aspects and variables--the strong and weak points--that the groups at risk of social exclusion present in seeking to access employment. The paper concludes with a presentation of the main results and proposes various lines of action that might provide responses to actual and future demands and needs. (Contains 8 tables and 2 figures.)

Introduction: This paper forms part of a group of studies regarding job placement of university graduates. The main objective of this study in particular is to present the extent of job placement among Education graduates with a Physical Education specialty from the University of Granada, Melilla Campus, as well as their acquisition of appropriate professional competencies during their training process. Method: The target population for this study are all students from the first six graduating classes of the University of Granada, Melilla, who earned a Primary Education degree with a specialty in Physical Education from the College of Education and Humanities. The final sample was made up of 72 subjects. Data was collected using the "Questionnaire for evaluating degree programs and social/labor placement of University of Jaen graduates," developed as part of the research project "Social/labor placement: an evaluation of ongoing, vocational learning." The questionnaire was adapted for this study. Results: Measurement of professional competency acquisition in Physical Education Teachers was carried out for three times: before entering the university program, after completing their degree, and after taking ongoing professional development coursework. Results, then, refer to the degree of acquisition of a list of proposed competences at these three points in time. In addition, the different competencies are compared between those graduates who are working and those who are not. Discussion or Conclusion: It was confirmed that the competency related to "knowledge of information technologies," as measured before beginning university training, presents a degree of significance in favour of those graduates who do not work as compared to those who are working. The same occurs at the end of university training. During this second period, significant differences are also seen with regard to the competency "planning one's work and time." It can be shown that after university training, acquisition of competencies has increased. Likewise, after taking ongoing development coursework, significant differences are obtained for the competency of "knowledge of information technologies." Finally, we find significant differences regarding "technical knowledge related to physical education," and "creative, innovative and critical ability." (Contains 23 tables and 1 graph.)

This paper explores the influence of marital disruption and family environment on three major events that mark the transition from adolescence to young adulthood for children between the ages of 16 and 25, these being leaving school, entering the labor market and obtaining permanent employment. This is a gender approach, given that the two sexes experience the process in different ways. The duration models that estimate the timing of events reveal that the factors which favor education (i.e., intact family, parents' education, mother more educated than father, mother never worked for pay) produce a higher-performance work path, and vice-versa (i.e., family disruption, number of siblings, caring for grandparents). The comparative gender analysis shows that daughters receive more education, are less likely to obtain a permanent job and, at the same time, they are more sensitive to the family environment and produce a positive externality on both brothers and sisters.

Transnational families have long used migration as a strategy for upward social mobility. However, migration projects are increasingly complex and often do not involve a single move from one country to another. Drawing on qualitative interviews, this paper explores how Latin American families negotiate different stages of their migration from Latin America to Spain to the UK. The paper demonstrates how families negotiate within the opportunity structures afforded to them to achieve physical and social mobility. These opportunities are structured by different legal regimes and the way that immigration, citizenship and labour market policies are implemented. The initial migration from Latin America to Spain had enabled Latin American families to gain economic stability and EU citizenship, but at the cost of a period of family separation. However, faced with the financial crisis, some families opted for onward migration to the UK, a process that resulted in families becoming "re‐transnationalised." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses two questions: Which manufacturing industries are associated with the inception of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS)? Do cross-sectoral interdependencies between the two sectoral macro-domains exhibit geographical heterogeneity? We use a job multiplier approach using decadal employment data of 399 municipalities in Spain over the period 1981–2011. The main result is that only traditional supplier-dominated industries exhibit significant employment effects, both positive and negative, on KIBS. Coherent with the prior literature, this is most prominent in denser areas. Our findings draw attention to the specificities of user industries, and lend support to the notion that KIBS are a heterogeneous group of activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The empirical literature dealing with returns to schooling in Spain is quite scarce. This paper estimates private returns to schooling in Spain over 2008-2019. While average years of schooling increased steadily over the period 2008-2019, returns to schooling followed the same path only until 2014 when they came to a halt. From 2014-2019 a decrease in returns of around 16% took place. Future research framing these results in terms of the labor market adjustments caused by the Great recession and the post-Great recession period will be worthwhile undertaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the scarce literature on the topic of horizontal education-job mismatch in the labor market for graduates of universities. Field-of-study mismatch or horizontal mismatch occurs when university graduates, trained in a particular field, work in another field at their formal qualification level. The data used in the analysis come from the first nationally representative survey of labor insertion of recent university graduates in Spain. By estimating a multinomial logistic regression, we are able to identify the match status 4 years after graduation based on self-assessments. We find a higher likelihood of horizontal mismatch among graduates of Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, Pharmacy, and Languages and Literature. Only graduates in Medicine increase the probability of being adequately matched in their jobs. It may be hypothesized that horizontal mismatch is more likely among those graduates in degree fields that provide more general skills and less likely among those from degree fields providing more occupation-specific skills. Other degrees such as Business Studies, and Management and Economics Studies increase the probability of being vertically mismatched (over-educated). Vertical mismatch preserves at least some of the specific human capital gained through formal educational qualifications. However, some workers with degrees in Labor Relations and Social Work are in non-graduate positions and study areas unrelated to their studies. The paper also shows that graduates in the fields of health sciences and engineering/architecture increase the probability of achieving an education-job match after external job mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the labour incorporation of skilled Latin American immigrant workers into Spain. It is based on in‐depth interviews with 24 Latin American immigrants and it explores reasons for migration into Spain, showing that the interviewees migrated for a great variety of reasons, not necessarily for work. Subsequently, the paper analyses the interviewees' labour incorporation in Spain and defines three paths into skilled work in Spain. In two of the three paths, on first arrival in Spain, a mismatch was observed between education and labour market outcomes. For some, migration even represented a break in their career, implying occasionally a temporary de‐skilling process. For this reason, an extended university–work transition was sometimes observed, in order to secure skilled jobs in Spain. Theoretically, human capital hardly explains this migration since it is not associated with upward career movement, although wages might be higher than in the countries of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well known that German and Spanish labour markets are quite different from a macro point of view. In this paper, we look at these markets through the lenses of individual unstable spells. These include all forms of atypical employment (such as temporary contracts and mini-jobs) as well as unemployment. This combined unstable state captures a fuller picture of the individual experience of volatile income and uncertain employment status than unemployment alone. We find that the survival rates of unstable spells in the two countries are much more similar than those from unemployment. This suggests that the usual focus on unemployment stocks and durations exaggerates the contrast between the two countries in terms of workers' experience of instability. We place these findings in the context of very similar aggregate shocks in the two countries and different policy choices on labour market reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a significant revision of the evolution of labor incomes in Spain, challenging previous assumptions about the effect of Francoist institutions in the postwar era. Administrative data reveal weaker wage declines in the 1940s and consistent growth throughout the 1950s, driven by the growing importance of allowances and family bonuses. This more positive evolution primarily benefited workers in regulated industries (such as manufacturing and private services), while agrarian laborers and civil servants experienced subpar earnings growth. Consequently, for the first group, effective compensation increasingly trended above legal compensation, as evidenced by the results of the 1957 wage survey. These findings suggest that labor markets under Francoism had a more flexible compensation structure than previously believed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prevalence of depression related to precarious employment (PE) has become a significant public health concern, given the declining trend of the standard employment relationship. Research has focused on the mental health detrimental effects of employment conditions, whereas there is scarce evidence concerning the burden of depression that could be prevented by targeting precariousness. This paper estimates the impact of PE on the risk of depression and the attributable fraction within the active and working salaried population in Spain. Observational cross-sectional on data drawn from the Spanish portion of European Health Survey 2020. After applying selection criteria and descriptives, binary logistic regression models stratified by sex are used to examine the associations between a 9-categories combination of employment precariousness and occupational social class, and depressive symptoms. There is a higher risk of depression among individuals in PE and among those who are unemployed, with a notable gradient based on occupational social class for women. Adjusting by sex, age and foreign-born origin, we estimate that approximately 15.0% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.0%–26.2%) of depression cases among the working population and 33.3% (95% CI: 23.2%-43.2) among the active population can be attributed to PE. These findings highlight the public health impact of PE on mental health, provide evidence to estimate the economic burden linked to employment-related mental health, and underscore the need for policy changes and interventions at the level of labour markets and workplaces to mitigate the detrimental effects of PE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the effect that the fulfilment of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) has got among engineers in the information and communication technologies (ICT) sector. The focus is on Spain, and the comparison of the technical and managerial knowledge and skills most demanded by the sector in 2008 and 2018, coinciding with the first decade of the EHEA. The study also examines whether the professional skills acquired by university students are consistent with those required in the job market. The following question is answered: Are ICT students adequately trained a decade after the introduction of the EHEA? An empirical study was carried out on the basis of a cross-section of Spanish ICT sector enterprises. The results reveal a gap between employer expectations and the skills acquired by students. Policy and practice performance is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigration policies have a considerable impact on the influx and settlement process of immigrants, including ways and routes of immigration, regularisation, access to public services (such as education, housing and medical services), entry into the labour market, family reunification and access to citizenship. Consequently, changes in immigration policy determine the pace and direction of migrant integration and status mobility in host countries. Drawing from 64 semi-structured in-depth interviews with Indian immigrants in Spain, this paper explores the perceived effects of changes in immigration policies in Spain on immigration conditions, status mobility and integration of Indian immigrants, and strategies adopted by them to deal with these policies, during the period between 1985 and 2018. Results show that the Spanish immigration policies had several unintended negative effects on immigration conditions, regularisation, family reunification and access to Spanish citizenship, which in turn have slowed down their pace of integration and upward social mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Desarrollo y Sociedad is the property of Universidad de los Andes and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the wage gap between temporary and permanent workers across the whole wage distribution, not just at the mean, and the evolution before and after the Great Recession on this gap in Spain. Design/methodology/approach: An extended Mincer-type wage equation is estimated using ordinary least square regression and unconditional quantile regression. Then, the decomposition of the wage gap between workers with fixed-term and permanent contracts for each quantile is made using the Fortin, Lemieux and Firpo decomposition. Findings: The results show that two workers, with identical characteristics, earn different salaries if they have a different type of contract. However, the wage gap is not constant across the wage distribution. The penalty for temporary workers is wider for higher wages. Moreover, the main part of the gap is due to observed characteristics, but other factors (unobserved characteristics and discrimination) become more relevant in the upper part of the wage distribution. Originality/value: The study expands upon available studies for Spain in two points. First, it is the first paper to the knowledge that analyse both the wage gap between temporary and permanent workers across the wage distribution and its decomposition. Second, the paper explores what happened before and after the Great Recession. In the years that the paper analyses there is also a labour market reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Papers in Regional Science is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Spain has one of the highest in-work poverty rates in Europe and a high degree of job instability. Reducing in-work poverty requires an understanding of the entry and exit mechanisms specific to this situation, as well as the protective and risk factors involved. Based on data from the Spanish Living Conditions Survey (2017- 2020), this paper shows that households with children are more likely to experience in-work poverty, and that in-work poverty is more persistent in these cases. That said, entry into and exit from poverty is mostly associated with employment-related events, and to a lesser extent, with changes in household composition. The concentration of in-work poverty in households with children results from a process of erosion and accumulated risks, whereby wage losses have a greater effect on the risk of poverty, and the social protection system appears to be insufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper performs a meta‐regression analysis to derive the role of techniques, data and variable's definition on the effect of the labor‐market determinants on interregional migration. We use Spain as a case of study, a country with heterogeneous and even counterintuitive behavior of internal migration flows to its labor‐market drivers. We use data from studies released over the last 40 years. The results show that migration flows respond to labor‐market differentials in a theoretically consistent way. We find that the vast diversity in the studies' attributes is behind the significant heterogeneity of their estimated effects. Differences in aggregation level, variables measures, model specification, and the national economic context influence the identification of the push and pull effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the intergenerational impact of parental job loss on school performance during the Great Recession in Spain. Collecting data through parental surveys in a school in the province of Barcelona, I obtain information about the parental labour market status before and after the Great Recession. I can then link this information to repeated information on their children's school performance, for a sample of over 300 students. Using individual fixed effects, the estimates show a negative and significant decrease on average grades of around 15% of a standard deviation after father's job loss. These results are mainly driven by those students whose fathers suffer long unemployment spells. In contrast, the average impact of mother's job loss on school performance is close to zero and non-significant. The decline in school performance during the Great Recession after father's job loss, particularly among disadvantaged students, could result in detrimental long-term effects that might contribute to increased inequality. This could be an important and underemphasised cost of recessions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]