ESF:MPV_PTPZ Labour Market and Employment - Course Information

MPV_PTPZ Labour Market and Employment Policy

Extent and Intensity

0/2/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching

Teacher(s)

Mgr. Martin Guzi, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Dr. Magdalena Adamus (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

Prerequisites

The course has no formal prerequisites but it does require a willingness to engage with numbers and data, as well as some basic microeconomics.

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 8 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 careers of university graduates, work-life balance, cultural and social factors contributing to gender gaps in the labour market, precarious work, incentive pay, labour market discrimination, unemployment, undeclared work, and platform work.

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 thesis

Syllabus

• 1. Labour market characteristics
• • The purpose and motivation to work, labour market during the economic crisis, demographic development and its impact on the labour market, minimum wage vs reservation wage, job vacancy, Mincer equation and interpretation of coefficients, unobserved factors influencing the wage, Czech labour market characteristics (gender gaps, part-time contract, unemployment rate).
• 2. Cultural and social factors contributing to gender gaps in the labour market?
• • the price of motherhood, gender wage gap, gender employment gap, statistical discrimination, gender differences in education and field of study, consequences of high gender pay gap (poverty trap for women), explained and unexplained part of wage gap, Mathilda effect, sticky floor, glass ceiling, division of labour in the family, (unpaid) household work.
• 3. Labour market discrimination
• • hiring discrimination, correspondence study, anonymous job applications, discrimination in online markets
• 4. Work careers of university graduates
• • Earnings advantages from education; Why starting your career during a strong economy is better?
• 5. Wages around the globe
• • McWage Index, minimum wage vs collectively agreed wages, reservation wage, Mincer equation and interpretation of coefficients, cross-country comparison of wage rates.
• 6. Labor mobility and migration
• • theory of migration, Roy selection, international labour migration.
• 7. Income inequality
• • Gini coefficient, 20:20 ratio, reforms reducing income inequality and poverty
• 8. Undeclared work
• 9. Work-life balance
• 10. Platform work
• 11. Future of the labour market
• • Robotization and automatization, platform work, life-long education, adult skills.
• Please consult the ‘Interactive syllabus’ for the latest information.

Literature

required literature
• 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.

recommended literature
• Our World in Data
• HOFFMAN, Saul D. and Susan L. AVERETT. Women and the economy : family, work and pay. Fourth edition. London: Macmillan international, higher education, 2021, xviii, 395. ISBN 9781352012002. info
• BORJAS, George J. Labor economics. Eight edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2020, xvi, 478. ISBN 9781260565522. info

Teaching methods

Classes have a 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

You can earn 100 points and your grade will depend on the overall score. Grading is based on attendance (20 points), critical summary writing (20 points), policy project (20), online midterm exam (15 points) and final exam (25 points). The basic condition for getting a grade (A-E) from the course is to gain at least 60 points overall and at least 15 points (60%) from the final exam. Grading: A 100 - 92 points, B 91 – 84 points, C 83 – 76 points, D 75 – 68 points, E 67 – 60 points, F less than 60 points

Language of instruction

English

Further comments (probably available only in Czech)

The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
Credit evaluation note: k = 1.

Teacher's information

Instructor: Martin Guzi,
Office Hours: by appointment,
Email: martin.guzi@econ.muni.cz

• Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  
• Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/econ/spring2025/MPV_PTPZ