MPV_PTPZ Labour Market and Employment Policy

Faculty of Economics and Administration
Spring 2022
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Martin Guzi, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Luca Fumarco, PhD (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Martin Guzi, Ph.D.
Department of Public Economics – Faculty of Economics and Administration
Contact Person: Jana Biskupová
Supplier department: Department of Public Economics – Faculty of Economics and Administration
Timetable of Seminar Groups
MPV_PTPZ/01: Tue 10:00–11:50 P304, except Tue 29. 3., M. Guzi
Prerequisites
The course assumes the basic knowledge of microeconomic concepts.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 7 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
Classes have a seminar format with a strong focus on class discussion and cooperative learning. Students taking this course will learn from real-life examples to understand the key employment policy challenges and the role of labour market institutions.
The following topics will be discussed: employment and wage determination, income-inequality, labour market flexibility, labour mobility and migration, work-life balance, job satisfaction, (unpaid) household work, gender gaps, income adequacy, precarious work, incentive pay, labour market discrimination, unemployment, and labour market institutions.
Learning outcomes
Students will learn to discuss, understand and tackle contemporary labour market problems and policy challenges. The course will put an emphasis on empirical research and encourage students to elaborate selective case studies into class presentations.
Knowledge, skills and competence you will learn:
• understand the role of labour market institutions
• analyse current policy questions related to labour markets
• work with international open databases and interpret data
• use of the course content in your own academic work, for example in analyses that are part of the master’s thesis
Syllabus
  • 1. Labour market characteristics
  • • The purpose and meaning of employment, labour market during the economic crisis, non-standard work contracts, population at risk at the labour market.
  • 2. Why gender matters in (labour) economics?
  • • gender pay gap, global gender gap, Mathilda effect, sticky floor, glass ceiling, differences in gender concept between disciplines, historical and geographical changes of gender concept
  • 3. Labour market discrimination
  • • hiring discrimination, correspondence study, beauty discrimination, anonymous job applications, discrimination in online markets
  • 4. Labour market segmentation and precarious work
  • • Decent work, irregular working time, DDD jobs,zero-hour contracts.
  • 5. Income adequacy, minimum wage and living wage
  • • Employment effects of minimum wage, poverty trap, poverty persistence, living wage and the cost of living calculation, McWage Index, cross-country comparison of wage rates.
  • 6. Unemployment and job search
  • • job search and matching efficiency, job referrals, Beveridge curve, unemployment stigma, main strategies of unemployment elimination/reduction, regulation of the labour market, flexicurity, prison work.
  • 8. Equal playing field - why genders differ?
  • • division of labour in the family, (unpaid) household work, segregation (vertical and horizontal), discrimination theories
  • 9. Labour market mobility and work migration
  • • theory of migration, Roy selection, international labour migration.
  • 10. My life after graduation • Job2job moves, work careers of university graduates.
  • 11. Future of the labour market
  • • Robotization and automatization, platform work, life-long education, adult skills.
Literature
    recommended literature
  • BORJAS, George J. Labor economics. Seventh edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2016, xviii, 569. ISBN 9781259252365. info
    not specified
  • Our World in Data
  • IZA World of Labor is an online platform that provides policy analysts, journalists, academics and society generally with relevant and concise information on labor market issues.
Teaching methods
The course includes lectures and seminar sessions. Classes have seminar format with a strong focus on class discussion and cooperative learning. We expect students to come to the classes. They are expected to participate in the class discussions and introduce the papers that they have read and also, their thoughts about them. If students miss classes not only will they not know the material, but they also deprive their classmates and lecturer of learning from them, and we lose the benefit of their contribution.
Assessment methods
Grading is based on participation in classroom through identified learning activities and small assignments (20 points), class presentation (20 points), short paper writing (20 points), midterm exam (15 points) and final exam (25 points). Grading is based on the overall score: A 91-100 points, B 81 – 90 points, C 71 – 80 points, D 61 – 70 points, E 55 – 60 points, F less than 55 points
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Credit evaluation note: k = 1.
Teacher's information
Language of instruction is English. Suggested online sources: • IZA World of Labor is an online platform that provides policy analysts, journalists, academics and society generally with relevant and concise information on labor market issues. • Our World in Data
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2009, Autumn 2010, Autumn 2011, Autumn 2012, Autumn 2013, Autumn 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2022, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/econ/spring2022/MPV_PTPZ