Giacomo Marcolin

Job Market Paper

Fertility-Based Discrimination: Evidence from the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 (with Andrea Di Giovan Paolo)

Abstract

Identifying the role of expected fertility as a driver of gender discrimination is crucial to guide policy solutions, but is hindered by the fact that pregnancy discrimination is typically addressed by broader gender-discrimination policies. This was not the case in the U.S., where before the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) pregnancy constituted a legal exception to existing gender discrimination laws. Exploiting states’ staggered adoption of laws similar to the PDA, we use difference-in-differences estimates based on survey data to show that the PDA reduced employment and hiring of women of fertile age, while having no detectable effect on dismissals. Our estimates imply that nearly 30% of the gender employment gap at the time was due to potential fertility. A simple search-and-matching model explains these results: by raising firing costs for discriminating employers, the PDA discouraged hiring but was not enforced strongly enough to prevent dismissals of pregnant employees. Finally, we show that pre-existing equal pay laws limited wage adjustments, exacerbating the negative effect on employment.

Selected Work in Progress

The Impact of Tax Office Aggressiveness on Firms (with Mario Cannella)

Gig Work as Income Insurance during Unemployment: Evidence from Germany (with Valentin Kecht)

Abstract

Despite the rapid growth of the gig economy, there is limited evidence on its impact on the labor force. This paper shows that gig work can act as a source of a supplementary income during job transitions. Matching a large sample of administrative employment data with information on platform entry, we demonstrate that individuals tend to take up gig work following a job separation when the opportunity arises. The effects on labor markets are persistent and vary across socioeconomic dimensions, while for the individual workers gig work is only a transitory occupation. Our identification relies on a difference-in-differences strategy, exploiting the staggered entry of gig platforms across German districts. We find some evidence of substitution with other forms of employment, but detect no reduction in receipt of unemployment benefits, suggesting that gig work does not replace traditional unemployment insurance schemes. However, we observe increased job-seeking activity and participation in active labor market policies in response to platform availability. Our results partly contrast existing evidence, highlighting the role of contextual factors in designing adequate labor market policies.

Policy Work