Answer to Question #173930 in Economics for Daniel Boateng

Question

The impact of a strike on the teacher Ms school children and the wider economy

Answer 1

Researchers provide compelling evidence that every 10 days of teacher strikes increase the number of men and women who do not graduate from high school by about 30 per thousand in both gender groups. Both scholars also conclude that strikes affect the educational decisions of individuals as they progress through the levels of education and reduce the number of men who complete their studies at the highest level. For no apparent reason, this does not affect women. Perhaps, this is due to the gender inequality of Argentine society, in which higher education is mainly obtained by girls from families with higher incomes, who previously studied in private schools, where there are significantly fewer strikes. Perhaps girls are more flexible, resilient, and motivated to pursue higher education. With regard to the labor market, scientists, firstly, rely on previous studies confirming the direct dependence of success in the labor market on the level of education. Secondly, one of the main theses that substantiated the "null hypothesis" of the study: teachers' strikes have a negative impact on the level of education of children. As a result, the authors found a relationship between unemployment and strikes: every 10 days of strikes in primary schools lead to a future increase in the number of unemployed by one percentage point. The researchers note that learning disruptions caused by strikes affect intense employment, although they do not change the composition of the workforce. But there is a tendency that every 10 days that are dropped out of the educational process due to a strike, lead to the fact that 30 girls per thousand are more likely to be involved in domestic production - they will combine household and low-skilled homework. Moreover, among men, there is almost no effect of strikes on the likelihood of employment in the informal sector. At the same time, for women, this effect on employment is noticeable: the deviation is 4.2% from the average.

 It is logical to assume that teachers' strikes also affect the earnings prospects of future workers. And if the chosen methodology fairly reflects the reality, then it turns out that every 10 days of strikes reduce earnings by 0.2% for men and women (it should be borne in mind that this is a non-linear relationship). This is a statistical result that makes it possible to assess and predict the long-term consequences of teacher strikes. In fact, the recorded decrease in wages for men and women aged 30 to 40 years, who lost, on average, 88 school days in primary school, amounted to 3.2% for men and 1.9% for women. In the future, this leads to a decrease in per capita income by 4% relative to the sample average. Interestingly, the absence of school days - not regularly, but due to the closure of schools for the strike - had the greatest impact on those who receive not too low or high salaries. Dividing the total sample into decile groups (10 percent earnings groups) showed that those in low-paid jobs were likely to receive similarly low wages, regardless of whether their teachers were on strike. The same goes for those in the top deciles. On the other hand, those in the middle distribution could earn more. As noted above, shorter school days increase the likelihood of girls in future employment in the informal sector or in home-based, artisanal, and household work. For men, the average dropout of 88 days in primary school creates a 7.48% deviation from the standard distribution by occupation - towards the less qualified.

The decline in the level of education of women leads to a further decline in standards in family life. On average, women who missed those 88 school days had a partner's education level 4.7% below average. At the same time, the decrease in the level of education among men does not narrow their choice of a partner for family life, which again hints at the gender inequality of Argentine society (in general, characteristic of the macho culture of Latin America). Early termination of education in women more often than in men leads to early childbirth, which in the future with a very high probability indicates the loss of any prospects for obtaining an education.