In this study gender wage differentials in private and public sector jobs in Austria are calculated. Occupational attainment is considered as endogeneous by the use of an ordered response model. Results show that wage discrimination is also present in the public sector,though on a lower level. Both in private firms and for public servants a substantial part of this unwarranted differential is due to unequal professional advancement.

Previous estimates of the effect of unemployment on crime commonly omit determinants of criminal behavior that vary with the business cycle, creating correlation between unemployment rates and the residuals in aggregate crime regressions. In this paper, we employ several strategies that attempt to minimize or break this correlation and eliminate the accompanying omitted variables bias to estimates of the effect of unemployment on crime. Using a state-level panel for the period from 1970 to 1993, we explore the sensitivity of crime-unemployment elasticity estimates to explicit controls for per-capita alcohol consumption, a factor that has been shown in the past to be pro-cyclical and a partial determinant of criminal behavior. In addition, we use prime defense contracts per-capita at the state level as an instrument for state unemployment rates. Both controlling for alcohol consumption and using instrumental variables to correct for omitted variables bias yields large effects of unemployment on the seven felony offenses recorded by the Department of Justice. Moreover, in contrast to previous research, we find significant and sizable positive effects of unemployment on the rates of specific violent, as well as property crimes.

In this paper we look at unemployment effects of immigration and trade with Eastern Europe in Austria. Using individual data over the period 1989 to 1992 of male blue-collar workers employed in the Austrian manufacturing sector, we decompose possible detrimental impacts in unemployment entry effects and unemployment duration effects. Unemployment entry does not seem to be strongly effected by the recent increase in the flow of immigrants. This is different from the immigration effect on unemployment duration. Within almost all subgroups there is a significant increase in the lenght of unemployment spells as a result of larger immigration. Increases in trade with Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) seem to have increased the risk of unemployment entry, and to a lesser extent also the duration of unemployment. This is different from trade with the rest of the world where export increases have an unemployment reducing effect.

We evaluate Austrian labor market policy focusing on its possible effects upon recurrent unemployment. Without properly considering the selection processes for public training programs, perverse results emerge. Taking the participation decision into account in a bivariate probit setting, Austrian manpower training programs turn out to be a sort of 'catching up1 strategy: (i) disadvantaged and less motivated job-seekers are given priority in enrollment into training programs and (ii) participation in such courses improves employment stability significantly.