PhD Workshop 2023 – Event Report

Perspectives on (Un-)Employment

The 14^th International Ph.D. Workshop “Perspectives on (Un-)Employment” took place from January 18^th to 20^th 2023 at the Institute for Employment Research (IAB). The interdisciplinary workshop aimed to provide an opportunity for graduate students in labor economics, sociology, and survey statistics to present their research and receive valuable feedback from scholars working at the frontiers of their disciplines.

Two cohorts of the joint doctoral programme of the IAB and the School of Business, Economics, and Society of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (GradAB) organized this year’s version of the traditional Ph.D. Workshop. Among the highlights of the event were keynote speeches held by Professor Uta Schönberg (University College London & IAB), Professor Jennie E. Brand (University of California), and Professor Melanie Revilla (IBEI Barcelona). During the three days of the workshop, 24 doctoral students from universities and research institutes in Germany, Italy, England, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Poland presented their ongoing work.

Professor Uta Schönberg opened the first conference day with a keynote lecture on “Knowledge Spillovers, Competition, and Individual Careers”, followed by the first session in which doctoral students presented their work on “Education and the Labor Market”. After the lunch break Professor Bernd Fitzenberger, the director of the IAB, gave a welcome speech, followed up by two more sessions on the topics “Labor Market Effects of Digital Technologies” and “Migration and the Labor Market”. The first day of the workshop ended with a poster session by six GradAB students who presented selected ongoing projects to the international guests. In addition, workshop participants were able to discuss their research in virtual one-on-one meetings with Professor Jennie E. Brand. At the end of the first day of the workshop, the participating doctoral students, keynotes, and senior researchers continued to exchange ideas while enjoying good Franconian food in a relaxed atmosphere at the restaurant „Tucher-Bräu am Opernhaus“.

On the second workshop day, the doctoral students presented their research in three sessions dealing with questions about the topics "Firm Perspectives", "Unemployment and Job Search", and "Dimensions of Labor Supply". In the afternoon, Matthias Umkehrer from the Research Data Centre (FDZ) introduced various datasets that are offered by the IAB to the research community. After the presentation, the participants had the opportunity to obtain further more detailed information on those datasets during the ensuing data poster session. The second workshop day ended with the remote keynote speech by Professor Jennie E. Brand on the topic of “The Far-Reaching and Disparate Effects of Job Loss“. Afterwards, the participants met for an informal dinner.

Professor Melanie Revilla opened the third day of the workshop with a keynote lecture on “New Opportunities to Enhance or Replace Conventional Web Survey Data”. In the subsequent session, workshop participants presented their projects on “Methodological Advances in Survey Statistics”. After the lunch break, the last session on the topic “Wages and Local Labor Markets” ended the workshop.

The 14^th Ph.D. workshop offered new insights into current labor market research across research institutions and countries as well as the opportunity for lively discussions and interdisciplinary exchange. The organizing team would like to thank the keynote speakers, all presenters, the session chairs, and all other participants for their contributions.