Monitoring hiring discrimination through online recruitment platforms.

Women (compared to men) and individuals from minority ethnic groups (compared to the majority group) face unfavourable labour market outcomes in many economies1,2, but the extent to which discrimination is responsible for these effects, and the channels through which they occur, remain unclear3,4. Although correspondence tests5-in which researchers send fictitious CVs that are identical except for the randomized minority trait to be tested (for example, names that are deemed to sound 'Black' versus those deemed to sound 'white')-are an increasingly popular method to quantify discrimination in hiring practices6,7, they can usually consider only a few applicant characteristics in select occupations at a particular point in time. To overcome these limitations, here we develop an approach to investigate hiring discrimination that combines tracking of the search behaviour of recruiters on employment websites and supervised machine learning to control for all relevant jobseeker characteristics that are visible to recruiters. We apply this methodology to the online recruitment platform of the Swiss public employment service and find that rates of contact by recruiters are 4-19% lower for individuals from immigrant and minority ethnic groups, depending on their country of origin, than for citizens from the majority group. Women experience a penalty of 7% in professions that are dominated by men, and the opposite pattern emerges for men in professions that are dominated by women. We find no evidence that recruiters spend less time evaluating the profiles of individuals from minority ethnic groups. Our methodology provides a widely applicable, non-intrusive and cost-efficient tool that researchers and policy-makers can use to continuously monitor hiring discrimination, to identify some of the drivers of discrimination and to inform approaches to counter it.

Cancer Screening after the Adoption of Paid-Sick-Leave Mandates.

BACKGROUND: By the end of 2022, nearly 20 million workers in the United States have gained paid-sick-leave coverage from mandates that require employers to provide benefits to qualified workers, including paid time off for the use of preventive services. Although the lack of paid-sick-leave coverage may hinder access to preventive care, current evidence is insufficient to draw meaningful conclusions about its relationship to cancer screening. METHODS: We examined the association between paid-sick-leave mandates and screening for breast and colorectal cancers by comparing changes in 12- and 24-month rates of colorectal-cancer screening and mammography between workers residing in metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) that have been affected by paid-sick-leave mandates (exposed MSAs) and workers residing in unexposed MSAs. The comparisons were conducted with the use of administrative medical-claims data for approximately 2 million private-sector employees from 2012 through 2019. RESULTS: Paid-sick-leave mandates were present in 61 MSAs in our sample. Screening rates were similar in the exposed and unexposed MSAs before mandate adoption. In the adjusted analysis, cancer-screening rates were higher among workers residing in exposed MSAs than among those in unexposed MSAs by 1.31 percentage points (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.28 to 2.34) for 12-month colorectal cancer screening, 1.56 percentage points (95% CI, 0.33 to 2.79) for 24-month colorectal cancer screening, 1.22 percentage points (95% CI, -0.20 to 2.64) for 12-month mammography, and 2.07 percentage points (95% CI, 0.15 to 3.99) for 24-month mammography. CONCLUSIONS: In a sample of private-sector workers in the United States, cancer-screening rates were higher among those residing in MSAs exposed to paid-sick-leave mandates than among those residing in unexposed MSAs. Our results suggest that a lack of paid-sick-leave coverage presents a barrier to cancer screening. (Funded by the National Cancer Institute.).

Large motherhood penalties in US administrative microdata.

Whereas previous research has described motherhood penalties in US survey data, we leverage administrative data on 811,000 quarterly earnings histories from the US Unemployment Insurance program. We analyze contexts where smaller motherhood penalties might be expected: couples where the woman outearns her male partner prior to childbearing, at firms that are headed by women, and at firms that are predominantly women. Our startling result is that none of these propitious contexts appear to diminish the motherhood penalty, and indeed, the gap often increases in magnitude over time following childbearing. We estimate one of the largest motherhood penalties in "female-breadwinner" families, where higher-earning women experience a 60% drop from their prechildbirth earnings relative to their male partners. Turning to proximate mechanisms, women are less likely to switch to a higher-paying firm postchildbearing than men and are substantially more likely to quit the labor force. On the whole, our findings are discouraging relative even to existing research on motherhood penalties.

Rapid wage growth at the bottom has offset rising US inequality.

US earnings inequality has not increased in the last decade. This marks the first sustained reversal of rising earnings inequality since 1980. We document this shift across eight data sources using worker surveys, employer-reported data, and administrative data. The reversal is due to a shrinking gap between low-wage and median-wage workers. In contrast, the gap between top and median workers has persisted. Rising pay for low-wage workers is not mainly due to the changing composition of workers or jobs, minimum wage increases, or workplace-specific sources of inequality. Instead, it is due to broadly rising pay in low-wage occupations, which has particularly benefited workers in tightening labor markets. Rebounding post-Great Recession labor demand at the bottom offset enduring drivers of inequality.

Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Position Statement: Paid family and medical leave.

Position: The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine strongly supports paid family leave and medical leave to optimize the health of pregnant people and their families and to improve health equity. All types of leave should include full wages and benefits and job protection to ensure that parents can care for themselves and their children. The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine endorses the implementation of a national policy that would provide fully-paid sick leave in addition to a minimum of 12 weeks of universal paid family and medical leave with job protection to optimize health and well-being across generations.

Salary Disparities in Public Health Occupations: Analysis of Federal Data, 2021‒2022.

Objectives. To assess salary differences between workers within key public health occupations in local or state government and workers in the same occupations in the private sector. Methods. We used the US Department of Labor's Occupational Employment and Wage Survey (OEWS). Referencing previous studies matching Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes with health department occupations, we selected 44 SOC codes. We contrasted median salaries in OEWS for workers in each occupation within state or local government with workers in the same occupations outside government. Results. Thirty of 44 occupations paid at least 5% less in government than the private sector, with 10 occupations, primarily in management, computer, and scientific or research occupations paying between 20% and 46.9% less in government. Inspection and compliance roles, technicians, and certain clinicians had disparities of 10% to 19%. Six occupations, primarily in social work or counseling, paid 24% to 38.7% more in government. Conclusions. To develop a sustainable public health workforce, health departments must consider adjusting their salaries if possible, market their strong benefits or public service mission, or use creative recruitment incentives such as student loan repayment programs for hard-to-fill roles. (Am J Public Health. 2024;114(3):329-339. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307512).

Effect of long working hours on psychological distress among young workers in different types of occupation.

BACKGROUND: We investigated how the association between long working hours and psychological distress varies across different employment and occupation types in young workers. METHODS: Examining a nationally representative sample of 7246 Korean workers (3621 women) aged 15 to 40, we analyzed 23,492 observations spanning from 2016 to 2020. Psychological distress was measured using the Brief Encounter Psychosocial Instrument. We employed a generalized estimating equation to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: Of the total observations, 5.2% worked <35 h/week, 52.9% worked 35-40 h/week, 23.5% worked 41-48 h/week, 10.3% worked 49-54 h/week, and 8.2% worked ≥55 h/week. The OR (95% CI) of the association between long working hours and psychological distress was 1.38 (1.11-1.72) for <35 h/week, 1.47 (1.32-1.65) for 41-48 h/week, 1.74 (1.49-2.04) for 49-54 h/week, and 2.11 (1.75-2.55) for ≥55 h/week compared to 35-40 h/week. The OR (95% CI) of the association between working ≥55 h/week and psychological distress was significantly higher among wage workers (OR [95% CI]: 2.37 [1.94-2.89]) compared to self-employed workers (OR [95% CI]: 0.84 [0.52-1.36]). Additionally, the OR (95% CI) of the association between working ≥55 h/week and psychological distress was significantly higher among white-collar workers (OR [95% CI]: 3.24 [2.54-4.13]) compared to service/sales workers (OR [95% CI]: 1.22 [0.86-1.72]) or blue-collar workers (OR [95% CI]: 1.71 [1.10-2.67]). No clear gender differences were observed. CONCLUSION: Psychological distress caused by long working hours can be pronounced among white-collar and wage workers.

Physician workload and practice management in pediatric gastroenterology.

OBJECTIVES: The pediatric gastroenterology workforce has grown in the last few decades. The North American Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) formed a task force to understand current pediatric gastroenterology organizations' practice structures. METHODS: 19-item electronic survey was distributed to NASPGHAN members who were clinical or academic division directors. RESULTS: 30% responded to the survey, all directors of academic practices. The median number of clinical sessions per week was seven sessions, and the median individual work relative value unit (wRVU) target for practices was 4000-4500. Healthcare team ratios compared to provider clinical full-time equivalent were reported as the following: Nursing 0.80, medical assistant (MA) 0.29, dietitian 0.29, social worker 0.14, and psychologist 0.13. Regarding compensation, 68.0% were salaried with bonus based on billing or director decision, 28.0% were salaried with no incentive pay, and 4.0% were salaried with a portion at risk if the target was not met, and a bonus was given if the target was met. Most practices participated in a wellness activity with the most common strategies being didactic lectures about physician burnout (80%), annual burnout check-ins (68%), and/or after-hours social activities (60%). CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric gastroenterology practices vary regarding clinical sessions per week and annual wRVU targets with the median at seven sessions per week and an annual goal of 4000-4500 wRVUs, similar to reported national benchmark goals at the 50th percentile. Healthcare teams, including nursing, MAs, dietitians, social workers, and psychologists, had similar ratios of staff to providers for all sizes and types of practices. Most practices are engaging in wellness initiatives.