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Author: Loewenstein, Mark A.
Resulting in 12 citations.
1. Aughinbaugh, Alison Aileen
Groen, Jeffrey
Loewenstein, Mark A.
Rothstein, Donna S.
Sun, Hugette
Employment, Telework, and Child Remote Schooling from February to May 2021: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997
Monthly Labor Review (March 2023): .
Also: https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2023/article/employment-telework-and-child-remote-schooling-from-february-to-may-2021-evidence-from-the-national-longitudinal-survey-of-youth-1997.htm
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: U.S. Department of Labor
Keyword(s): Children; COVID-19/Coronavirus Pandemic; Gender Differences; Schooling; Telecommuting

In this article, we use data on work and telework from a COVID-19 supplement to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 collected from February to May 2021. We examine whether the likelihoods of work and telework are associated with background characteristics related to demographics, education, geography, and prepandemic jobs. We also focus on differences between women and men and differences between individuals with children enrolled in school and those without children enrolled in school. Additionally, we examine factors associated with the likelihood of children in the individual's household attending remote or in-person schooling.
Bibliography Citation
Aughinbaugh, Alison Aileen, Jeffrey Groen, Mark A. Loewenstein, Donna S. Rothstein and Hugette Sun. "Employment, Telework, and Child Remote Schooling from February to May 2021: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997." Monthly Labor Review (March 2023): .
2. Dey, Matthew
Frazis, Harley
Loewenstein, Mark A.
Sun, Hugette
Ability to Work from Home: Evidence from Two Surveys and Implications for the Labor Market in the COVID-19 Pandemic
Monthly Labor Review (June 2020): DOI: 10.21916/mlr.2020.14.
Also: https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2020/article/ability-to-work-from-home.htm
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: U.S. Department of Labor
Keyword(s): American Time Use Survey (ATUS); COVID-19/Coronavirus Pandemic; Current Population Survey (CPS) / CPS-Fertility Supplement; Job Characteristics; Occupational Information Network (O*NET); Telecommuting

This article examines the relationship between workers' ability to work at home, as captured in job characteristics measured by the Occupational Information Network, and the actual incidence of working at home, as measured by the American Time Use Survey and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. For occupations in which telework is feasible, the article also estimates the proportion of workers who actually teleworked for a substantial amount of time prior to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The article concludes by examining recent (April 2020) employment estimates from the Current Population Survey, aiming to gauge how the initial employment effects of the pandemic differed between occupations in which telework is feasible and occupations in which it is not.
Bibliography Citation
Dey, Matthew, Harley Frazis, Mark A. Loewenstein and Hugette Sun. "Ability to Work from Home: Evidence from Two Surveys and Implications for the Labor Market in the COVID-19 Pandemic." Monthly Labor Review (June 2020): DOI: 10.21916/mlr.2020.14.
3. Dey, Matthew
Loewenstein, Mark A.
Sun, Hugette
A Look at the New Job-task Information in the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth
Monthly Labor Review (May 2021): .
Also: https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2021/article/a-look-at-the-new-job-task-information-in-the-national-longitudinal-surveys-of-youth.htm
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY97
Publisher: U.S. Department of Labor
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Job Characteristics; Occupations; Skills; Wages

Using data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth 1979 and 1997, this article examines how the skill level and task content of U.S. jobs vary among workers born during the 1957-1964 and 1980-1984 periods. This article presents data on how job attributes vary by sex, race, Hispanic origin, and educational attainment as well as by performance on the Armed Forces Qualifying Test and type of occupation. It also examines the relationship between job attributes and wages.
Bibliography Citation
Dey, Matthew, Mark A. Loewenstein and Hugette Sun. "A Look at the New Job-task Information in the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth." Monthly Labor Review (May 2021): .
4. Frazis, Harley Jay
Loewenstein, Mark A.
How Responsive are Quits to Benefits?
Journal of Human Resources 48,4 (Fall 2013): 969-997.
Also: http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/48/4/969.refs
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Keyword(s): Benefits, Fringe; Quits; Wages

Economists have argued that one function of fringe benefits is to reduce turnover. However, the effect on quits of the marginal dollar of benefits relative to wages is underresearched. We use the benefit incidence data in the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the cost information in the National Compensation Survey to impute benefit costs and estimate quit regressions. The quit rate is much more responsive to benefits than to wages, and total turnover even more so; benefit costs are also correlated with training provision. We cannot disentangle the effects of individual benefits due to their high correlation.
Bibliography Citation
Frazis, Harley Jay and Mark A. Loewenstein. "How Responsive are Quits to Benefits?" Journal of Human Resources 48,4 (Fall 2013): 969-997.
5. Frazis, Harley Jay
Loewenstein, Mark A.
NTIS Reexamining the Returns to Training: Functional Form, Magnitude, and Interpretation
Report: BLS Working Paper No. 367. Washington DC: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, 2003.
Also: http://www.bls.gov/osmr/abstract/ec/ec030040.htm
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: U.S. Department of Labor
Keyword(s): Labor Market Outcomes; Training; Training, Occupational

This paper estimates the wage returns to training, paying careful attention to the choice of functional form. Both the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) and Employer Opportunity Pilot Project (EOPP) datasets indicate that the return to an extra hour of formal training diminishes sharply with the amount of training received. A cube root specification fits the data best, but the log specification also does well. The linear and quadratic specifications substantially understate the effect of training.

Also: NTIS Report: PB2006101302

Bibliography Citation
Frazis, Harley Jay and Mark A. Loewenstein. "NTIS Reexamining the Returns to Training: Functional Form, Magnitude, and Interpretation." Report: BLS Working Paper No. 367. Washington DC: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, 2003.
6. Frazis, Harley Jay
Loewenstein, Mark A.
On-the-Job Training
Hanover, MA: Now Publishers Inc, 2007.
Also: http://www.nowpublishers.com/product.aspx?product=MIC&doi=0700000008
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Now Publishers Inc.
Keyword(s): Human Capital; Job Productivity; Job Turnover; Labor Economics; Skilled Workers; Training, On-the-Job

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Originally published as Foundations and Trends® in Microeconomics Volume 2 Issue 5. DOI: 10.1561/0700000008

On-the-Job Training surveys the recent literature from both a theoretical and empirical perspective. The analysis of how individuals obtain and are paid for their skills is fundamental to labor economics. The basic idea of human capital theory is that workers and firms invest in workers' skills in order to increase their productivity, much as persons invest in financial or physical assets to earn income. Workers develop many skills through formal education not tied to an employer, but an important part of their skills are learned on the job. On-the-Job Training focuses on recent literature including empirical research using direct measures of training and theoretical papers inspired by findings from this empirical work. The authors presents a theoretical model showing that costs and returns to general human capital may be shared if training increases mobility costs, if there are constraints on lowering wages, or if there is uncertainty about the value of training at competing employers. This model analyzes the choice of the amount of training, emphasizing the influence of whether the employer can commit to training prior to employment. In addition, the model implies that firms will attempt to match low-turnover workers with training opportunities, which is supported by the empirical literature.

Bibliography Citation
Frazis, Harley Jay and Mark A. Loewenstein. On-the-Job Training. Hanover, MA: Now Publishers Inc, 2007..
7. Frazis, Harley Jay
Loewenstein, Mark A.
Reexamining the Returns to Training: Functional Form, Magnitude, and Interpretation
BLS Working Paper No. 325, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, 1999.
Also: http://stats.bls.gov/oreec/ec990060.htm
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: U.S. Department of Labor
Keyword(s): Employer Opportunity Pilot Project (EOPP); Heterogeneity; Training; Wage Dynamics

This paper examines the appropriate functional form and the size of the wage returns to training. In both the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) and Employer Opportunity Pilot Project (EOPP) datasets a log specification fits best. In the NLSY, the full effect of training occurs with a lag as long as two years, training on previous jobs is a substitute for training on the current job, and the return to training declines with labor market experience. The EOPP data indicate that formal and informal training are perfect substitutes; however, an hour of formal training has a much greater effect on wages than does an hour of informal training. We find very large returns to formal training in both the NLSY and EOPP. The mixed continuous-discrete nature of the training variable means that measurement error can cause estimates of the effects of short spells of training to be biased upward, but we demonstrate that the maximum upward bias in estimated returns at the geometric mean is minimal. Heterogeneity in returns is a more plausible explanation of the high estimated return to training; in the EOPP data, the return to training is significantly higher in more complex jobs. With unobserved heterogeneity in returns, our estimates can be regarded as the return to training for the trained, but cannot be extrapolated to the untrained.
Bibliography Citation
Frazis, Harley Jay and Mark A. Loewenstein. "Reexamining the Returns to Training: Functional Form, Magnitude, and Interpretation." BLS Working Paper No. 325, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, 1999.
8. Frazis, Harley Jay
Loewenstein, Mark A.
Reexamining the Returns to Training: Functional Form, Magnitude, and Interpretation
Journal of Human Resources 40,2 (Spring 2005): 453-476.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4129533
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Keyword(s): Heterogeneity; Training; Training, On-the-Job; Wage Equations; Wage Growth; Wages

We investigate the functional form for formal training in a wage equation and derive estimates of its rate of return. The cube root fits best in our two data sets. We show that if wages are not adjusted continuously, estimating the return to training requires one lag and one lead of training. Using the cube root and a semi-nonparametric estimator, estimated returns are 150-180 percent. Adjusting for heterogeneity in wage growth, promotions, and direct costs reduces the return to 40-50 percent. We find evidence of heterogeneity in returns. Our estimates can thus be regarded as the return to training for the trained, but cannot be extrapolated to the untrained.
Bibliography Citation
Frazis, Harley Jay and Mark A. Loewenstein. "Reexamining the Returns to Training: Functional Form, Magnitude, and Interpretation." Journal of Human Resources 40,2 (Spring 2005): 453-476.
9. Loewenstein, Mark A.
Spletzer, James R.
Delayed Formal On-the-Job Training
Industrial and Labor Relations Review 51,1 (October 1997): 82-99.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2525036
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University
Keyword(s): Current Population Survey (CPS) / CPS-Fertility Supplement; Human Capital; Job Tenure; Job Training; Manpower Programs; Mobility, Job; Occupational Choice; Training, On-the-Job

The training literature assumes that job training is concentrated at the beginning of the employment relationship. The authors argue, however, that if there is belated information about employees' future mobility, it may be optimal to delay their training, even if doing so means forgoing the returns to training during the early part of the employment relationship. Results of an analysis of the relationship between tenure and the probability of ever having received training, using data from the Current Population Survey and the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth, indicate that delayed formal training is the norm rather than the exception.
Bibliography Citation
Loewenstein, Mark A. and James R. Spletzer. "Delayed Formal On-the-Job Training." Industrial and Labor Relations Review 51,1 (October 1997): 82-99.
10. Loewenstein, Mark A.
Spletzer, James R.
Dividing the Costs and Returns to General Training
Journal of Labor Economics 16,1 (January 1998): 142-171.
Also: http://stats.bls.gov/oreec/ec940100.htm
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Keyword(s): Training; Training, Employee; Training, On-the-Job; Wage Dynamics; Wage Models

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth indicate that the employer often pays the explicit costs of not only on-site training but also off-site general training. Although few of these costs appear to be passed on to workers in the form of a lower wage while in training, completed spells of general training paid for by previous employers have a larger wage effect than completed spells of general training paid for by the current employer. A model where contract enforcement considerations cause employers to share the costs and returns to purely general training can explain these findings. Copyright is not claimed for this article.
Bibliography Citation
Loewenstein, Mark A. and James R. Spletzer. "Dividing the Costs and Returns to General Training." Journal of Labor Economics 16,1 (January 1998): 142-171.
11. Loewenstein, Mark A.
Spletzer, James R.
General and Specific Training: Evidence and Implications
Journal of Human Resources 34,4 (Fall 1999): 710-733.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/146414
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Keyword(s): Mobility; Skills; Training; Training, Employee; Wage Growth

Using data from the Employer Opportunity Pilot Project (EOPP) survey and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), we explicitly document the specificity and generality of employer-provided training, and we analyze how wage growth and mobility are influenced by our direct measures of specific and general training. In spite of the emphasis that labor economists have placed on specific training, we find that employers in the EOPP and workers in the NLSY indicate that most of the skills learned in training are useful elsewhere. Our results are consistent with several recent models that predict that employers will often extract some of the returns to the general training they provide.
Bibliography Citation
Loewenstein, Mark A. and James R. Spletzer. "General and Specific Training: Evidence and Implications." Journal of Human Resources 34,4 (Fall 1999): 710-733.
12. Loewenstein, Mark A.
Spletzer, James R.
Informal Training: A Review of Existing Data and Some New Evidence
NLS Discussion Paper 94-20, Washington DC: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, November 1994.
Also: http://stats.bls.gov/ore/abstract/nl/nl940050.htm
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: U.S. Department of Labor
Keyword(s): Current Population Survey (CPS) / CPS-Fertility Supplement; Educational Returns; Human Capital; Human Capital Theory; NLS of H.S. Class of 1972; Training; Training, Off-the-Job; Training, On-the-Job; Wage Dynamics; Wage Theory

Although economists have recognized the importance of a worker's on-the-job human capital investments since the seminal papers by Becker (1962) and Mincer (1962), micro-datasets containing explicit measures of on-the-job training have started to become available only relatively recently. The existing data have been analyzed fairly thoroughly in a number of studies, and researchers agree that the human capital model's prediction that a worker's wage is positively related to past investments in his training is supported by the data. The NLSY is the major source of much of our current knowledge about formal training. However, the survey began asking questions about the harder to measure informal training only in 1993. The 1993 survey (along with the surveys to follow in the future) constitutes an important new source of information on informal training. The new NLSY training questions incorporate the detail of the EOPP employer survey (multiple sources of training such as classes or seminars, instruction from supervisors and/or co-workers, or self-study) within a survey of individuals. Used in conjunction with the wealth of information that the NLSY contains on individual demographic characteristics, employment history, schooling, and ability, the new informal training questions have the potential to significantly improve our knowledge about the acquisition and the returns to training
Bibliography Citation
Loewenstein, Mark A. and James R. Spletzer. "Informal Training: A Review of Existing Data and Some New Evidence." NLS Discussion Paper 94-20, Washington DC: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, November 1994.