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The measurement of employment benefits

Abstract

The consideration of employment effects and so-called 'hidden employment benefits' is one of the most confused and contentious issues in benefit-cost analysis and applied welfare economics generally. New investments create new employment opportunities, and often advocates for specific investments cite these employment opportunities as alleged benefits associated with the project. Indeed, from the local perspective, such employment opportunities may appear to be beneficial because they appear to come for free. If there is unemployment in the local area, then new investments create valuable employment opportunities for those in the local community. Even if there is full employment in the local area then new investments create incentives for immigrant from other locations that may have pecuniary benefits locally through increased property values, business revenues, etc. The focus in this study is on net economic benefits from a broad national perspective. From this perspective, many of the alleged employment benefits at the local level are offset by lost benefits at other locales, and do not count as benefits according to economic theory. This paper outlines a methodology for testing this rebuttable presumption with empirical data pertaining to labor markets that would be affected by a specific new investment. The theoretical question that  More>>
Authors:
Publication Date:
Jul 01, 1994
Product Type:
Technical Report
Report Number:
INIS-XA-N-159
Resource Relation:
Other Information: 9 refs, 9 tabs; PBD: Jul 1994; Related Information: In: Estimating fuel cycle externalities: Analytical methods and issues. Report number 2 on the external costs and benefits of fuel cycles: A study by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Commission of the European Communities, 663 pages.
Subject:
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE; COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS; ECONOMIC ANALYSIS; EMPLOYMENT; INVESTMENT; MARKET
OSTI ID:
20478196
Research Organizations:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Resources for the Future, Washington, DC (United States)
Country of Origin:
IAEA
Language:
English
Other Identifying Numbers:
Other: Contract DE-AC05-84OR21400; ISBN 1-56760-028-X; TRN: XA04N1455052309
Availability:
Available from INIS in electronic form
Submitting Site:
INIS
Size:
32 pages
Announcement Date:
Jul 20, 2004

Citation Formats

Burtraw, D. The measurement of employment benefits. IAEA: N. p., 1994. Web.
Burtraw, D. The measurement of employment benefits. IAEA.
Burtraw, D. 1994. "The measurement of employment benefits." IAEA.
@misc{etde_20478196,
title = {The measurement of employment benefits}
author = {Burtraw, D}
abstractNote = {The consideration of employment effects and so-called 'hidden employment benefits' is one of the most confused and contentious issues in benefit-cost analysis and applied welfare economics generally. New investments create new employment opportunities, and often advocates for specific investments cite these employment opportunities as alleged benefits associated with the project. Indeed, from the local perspective, such employment opportunities may appear to be beneficial because they appear to come for free. If there is unemployment in the local area, then new investments create valuable employment opportunities for those in the local community. Even if there is full employment in the local area then new investments create incentives for immigrant from other locations that may have pecuniary benefits locally through increased property values, business revenues, etc. The focus in this study is on net economic benefits from a broad national perspective. From this perspective, many of the alleged employment benefits at the local level are offset by lost benefits at other locales, and do not count as benefits according to economic theory. This paper outlines a methodology for testing this rebuttable presumption with empirical data pertaining to labor markets that would be affected by a specific new investment. The theoretical question that is relevant is whether the social opportunity cost of new employment is less than the market wage. This would be the case, for example, if one expects unemployment or underemployment to persist in a specific region of the economy or occupational category affected by the new investment. In this case, new employment opportunities produce a net increase in social wealth rather than just a transfer of income.}
place = {IAEA}
year = {1994}
month = {Jul}
}