Zitatform

Blumkin, Tomer & David Lagziel (2024): Asymmetric market power and wage suppression. In: The Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Jg. 126, H. 1, S. 38-59. DOI:10.1111/sjoe.12545

Abstract

"We study a labor market in which two identical firms compete over a pool of homogenous workers. Firms pre-commit to their outreach to potential employees, either through their informative advertising choices, or through their screening processes, before engaging in a wage competition ('a la Bertrand). Although firms are homogeneous, the unique pure-strategy equilibrium is asymmetric: one firm maximizes its outreach whereas the other compromises on a significantly smaller market share. The features of the asymmetric equilibrium extend to a general oligopsony with any finite number of firms. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons) ((en))

Zitatform

Card, David, Jesse Rothstein & Moises Yi (2024): Re-assessing the Spatial Mismatch Hypothesis. (NBER working paper / National Bureau of Economic Research 32252), Cambridge, Mass, 25 S.

Abstract

"We use detailed location information from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) database to develop new evidence on the effects of spatial mismatch on the relative earnings of Black workers in large US cities. We classify workplaces by the size of the pay premiums they offer in a two-way fixed effects model, providing a simple metric for defining “good” jobs. We show that: (a) Black workers earn nearly the same average wage premiums as whites; (b) in most cities Black workers live closer to jobs, and closer to good jobs, than do whites; (c) Black workers typically commute shorter distances than whites; and (d) people who commute further earn higher average pay premiums, but the elasticity with respect to distance traveled is slightly lower for Black workers. We conclude that geographic proximity to good jobs is unlikely to be a major source of the racial earnings gaps in major U.S. cities today." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Davis, Steven J. & Brenda Samaniego de la Parra (2024): Application Flows. (IZA discussion paper / Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit 16903), Bonn, 61 S.

Abstract

"We build and analyze a new U.S. database that links 125 million applications to job vacancies and employer-side clients on Dice.com, an online platform for jobs and workers in software design, computer systems, engineering, financial analysis, management consulting, and other occupations that require technical skills. We find, first, that posting durations are quite short, often only two or three days, with a median of seven days. Second, labor market tightness has tiny effects on posting durations. Third, job seekers display a striking propensity to target new postings, with almost half of applications flowing to openings posted in the past 48 hours. Fourth, applications per posting are much too uneven to reflect random search, even within narrow market segments and job categories. Moreover, posted offer wages play no role in explaining the deviations from a random-search benchmark. Fifth, intermediaries play a huge role on both sides of the platform: Recruitment and staffing firms account for two-thirds of all postings and attract most of the applications. We relate these and other findings to theories of labor market search." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Demazière, Didier (2024): In search of a job—But which one? How unemployed people revise their occupational expectations. In: Social Policy and Administration online erschienen am 06.02.2024. DOI:10.1111/spol.13011

Abstract

"Conducting a job search implies the identification of a target—an intended job. However, this assumption has been little studied, and just two main conclusions have been drawn, namely: jobseekers have an incentive to adjust their targets to the jobs available, and returning to work tends to lead to occupational downgrading. This article explores how job search experiences shape and alter targets. Biographical interviews were conducted with 57 unemployed people registered with the French public employment service. Ultimately, all of them revise their occupational expectations as, faced with the uncertainties inherent to the job search and experiencing difficulties in reaching their priority targets, they try to adapt and define more realistic goals. Four contrasting processes of expectation revision are used to track these tensions between desirability and realism. In conclusion, we stress the following facts: that unemployed people are flexible and develop rationales in order to adapt to the labour market; that their experience of failure, alongside advice and beliefs arising in the course of the job search feed directly into these revisions, and that these revisions both vary in magnitude and reflect inequalities in the defining process of target jobs." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons) ((en))

Zitatform

Duffy, John & Brian C. Jenkins (2024): Search, unemployment, and the Beveridge curve: Experimental evidence. In: Labour Economics, Jg. 87. DOI:10.1016/j.labeco.2024.102518

Abstract

"We report on a laboratory experiment testing the predictions of the Diamond–Mortensen–Pissarides (DMP) search-and-matching model, which is a workhorse, decentralized model of unemployment and the labor market. We focus on the job vacancy posting problem that firms face in the DMP model. We explore the model’s comparative statics predictions concerning variations in the separation rate, the vacancy posting cost, and the firm’s surplus earned per employee. Across all treatments, we find strong evidence for an inverse relationship between vacancies and unemployment, consistent with the Beveridge curve. We also find that the results of our various comparative statics exercises are in-line with the predictions of the theory." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2024 Elsevier) ((en))

Zitatform

Galos, Diana Roxana (2024): Social media and hiring: a survey experiment on discrimination based on online social class cues. In: European Sociological Review, Jg. 40, H. 1, S. 116-128. DOI:10.1093/esr/jcad012

Abstract

"Discrimination based on social class is challenging to study, and therefore likely to be underappreciated due to its subtle nature. Social class is often difficult to gauge from traditional resumes, yet, the expansion of social networking platforms provides employers with an additional source of information. Given that many individuals have a social media presence today, employers can increasingly rely on additional information gleaned from such online platforms (e.g., Twitter, Instagram), which may alter hiring decisions. To study the role of social networking platforms vis-à-vis potential discrimination based on social class cues, I leverage an original online survey experiment in the United States. The aim of the investigation is (i) to measure the effect of cultural markers of social class expressed on social media profiles in a hypothetical hiring situation and (ii) to analyse potential channels that might explain class-based discrimination. I show that subjects favour the upper-class-signalling candidate over the lower-class-signalling candidate and that perceived competence and perceived warmth are two channels through which class-based discrimination may occur. The individual’s online presence might not be part of the formal application process, yet it seems to shape inferences about individuals’ employability, competence, and warmth." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Tholen, Gerbrand (2024): Matching Candidates to Culture: How Assessments of Organisational Fit Shape the Hiring Process. In: Work, Employment and Society, Jg. 38, H. 3, S. 705-722. DOI:10.1177/09500170231155294

Abstract

"Organisational fit represents a crucial criterion in the hiring process. This article aims to understand how employers and external recruitment consultants define and apply organisational fit in professional labour markets, such as engineering, marketing and finance. It also investigates how the use of organisational fit in hiring can lead to social bias within these labour markets. It relies on semi-structured interviews with 47 external recruitment consultants who assist employers in these sectors. The article draws on Relational Inequality Theory to demonstrate how hiring managers and consultants use organisational fit to create and justify boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable candidates. Claim-making supports the rationalisation and legitimisation in the exclusion of groups of candidates. The article critically informs human resource management, business and psychology literature that perceive organisational fit as a largely benign criterion for recruitment. It also extends sociological and critical management literature by delineating three main exclusionary mechanisms in matching candidates for organisational fit." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Andrieu, Elodie & Malgorzata Kuczera (2023): Minimum Wage and Skills - Evidence from Job Vacancy Data. (TPI working papers / The Productivity Institute 034), Manchester, 62 S.

Abstract

"Low-wage occupations tend to be populated by workers with low levels of education. An increase in the minimum wage, while designed to protect workers in the lower part of the wage distribution, might result in unintended consequences for those same workers. In this paper, we study firms’ reaction to higher minimum wages, exploiting a change to the minimum-wage policy in the UK in 2016. We document how an increase in the minimum wage affects the labour hiring for different education and technical skill levels of workers. The results show that an increase in the minimum wage compressed both the demand for low educated workers and the demand for workers with low levels of technical skills (tech workers) for graduates in low and middle skilled occupations. Using a difference-in-differences framework, we find that a large and unexpected change to the minimum wage led to a 11 percentage point decrease in the proportion of non-graduate vacancies and a 15 percentage point decline in the share of low-tech ads. There is evidence for labour-labour substitution at the low-end of the skill distribution and labour-technology substitution for more educated workers as a way to compensate for labour costs increases." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Anelli, Gianni (2023): But which skills? Natural Language Processing tools and the identification of high-demand skills in online Job advertisements. In: Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation, Jg. 17, H. 2, S. 91-104.

Abstract

"Skills assessment is essential for today’s labor market.There are many factors hat change the requirements for the workplace. More than ever, it is important to monitor which skills are in high demand so that workers stay employed and ompanies do not lose productivity. This research discusses the relevance of data from online job portals for this task. It then uses a skill extractor in online ob advertisements from Chile to identify and extract the skills employers place n their online job advertisements through skills dictionaries. The study shows  modest results when using the European Skills, Competences and Occupations 28ESCO) dictionary but an enhanced and much-improved result when adding an inductively constructed dictionary of the national labor market. Using this method would allow a new input of information to be incorporated into labor arket information systems that would enable better decisions to be made by he various actors in the labor market." (Author's a bstract, IAB-Doku, © Pluto Journals Ltd.) ((en))

Zitatform

Araújo, Isabel & Anabela Carneiro (2023): Educational mismatches of newly hired workers: Short- and medium-term effects on wages. In: International Labour Review, Jg. 162, H. 3, S. 355-383. DOI:10.1111/ilr.12374

Abstract

"This paper examines the short- and medium-term effects of over- and undereducation on individual wages using a matched employer?employee dataset from 1998 to 2012 and a novel measure of educational mismatch based on the flows of newly hired workers. The findings reveal that the wage differential between adequately matched and mismatched workers decreases substantially once the unobserved heterogeneity of the worker and the firm is considered. Workers' unobserved characteristics explain a large proportion of both the overeducated wage penalty and the undereducated wage premium. Additionally, variations in firms' pay policies contribute to the wage gap among mismatched workers. Finally, findings show that job mismatches have the greatest impact on early-career individuals' wages." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons) ((en))

Zitatform

Bamieh, Omar & Lennart Ziegler (2023): Gender-age differences in hiring rates and prospective wages. Evidence from job referrals to unemployed workers. In: Labour Economics, Jg. 83. DOI:10.1016/j.labeco.2023.102395

Abstract

"This paper uses matched worker-vacancy data to study gender differences in hiring outcomes of jobseekers in Austria. When registered at the public employment office, jobseekers are assigned caseworkers who refer them to suitable vacancies. Our findings show that female and male jobseekers are equally likely to get hired via such a referral, but it takes women longer to get a job offer. Most of the observed gender differences stem from younger jobseekers (below age 35) and are explained by rejections of employers. Young women are also less often hired for better-paying jobs. We argue that these differences are consistent with hiring discrimination against women in their fertile age. Our analysis shows that young female jobseekers are much more likely to go on parental leave in the future, while men almost never take extended parental leave. Consistent with this hypothesis, we find that hiring differences are larger for jobs associated with higher replacement costs and smaller in tight labor markets." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2023 Elsevier) ((en))

Zitatform

Barlevy, Gadi, Bart Hobijn, Jason Faberman & Ayşegül Şahin (2023): The Shifting Reasons for Beveridge-Curve Shifts. (IZA discussion paper / Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit 16517), Bonn, 29 S.

Abstract

"We discuss how the relative importance of factors that contribute to movements of the U.S. Beveridge curve has changed from 1960 to 2023. We review these factors in the context of a simple flow analogy used to capture the main insights of search and matching theories of the labor market. Changes in inflow rates, related to demographics, accounted for Beveridge curve shifts between 1960 and 2000. A reduction in matching efficiency, that depressed unemployment outflows, shifted the curve outwards in the wake of the Great Recession. In contrast, the most recent shifts in the Beveridge curve appear driven by changes in the eagerness of workers to switch jobs. We argue that, while the Beveridge curve is a useful tool for relating unemployment and vacancies to inflation, the link between these labor market indicators and inflation depends on whether and why the Beveridge curve shifted. Therefore, a careful examination of the factors underlying movements in the Beveridge curve is essential for drawing policy conclusions from the joint behavior of unemployment and job openings." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Bassier, Ihsaan, Alan Manning & Barbara Petrongolo (2023): Vacancy duration and wages. (CEP discussion paper / Centre for Economic Performance 1943), London, 45 S.

Abstract

"We estimate the elasticity of vacancy duration with respect to posted wages, using data from the near-universe of online job adverts in the United Kingdom. Our research design identifies duration elasticities by leveraging firm-level wage policies that are plausibly exogenous to hiring difficulties on specific job vacancies, and control for job and market-level fixed-effects. Wage policies are defined based on external information on pay settlements, or on sharp, internally-defined, firm-level changes. In our preferred specifications, we estimate duration elasticities in the range −3 to −5, which are substantially larger than the few existing estimates." (Résumé d'auteur, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Bertheau, Antoine, Birthe Larsen & Zeyu Zhao (2023): What Makes Hiring Difficult? Evidence from Linked Survey-Administrative Data. (IZA discussion paper / Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit 16268), Bonn, 56 S.

Abstract

"We design a survey that asks firms about the obstacles that discourage them from hiring despite having potential needs. Using Danish administrative data and subjective beliefs elicited from our survey, we show how hiring obstacles vary across firms. Over two-thirds of employers agree that skill shortages are a hiring obstacle. One-third of employers consider labor costs, the time to find candidates, and the time to train new recruits as hiring obstacles. High-wage firms are less discouraged by labor costs, while younger or smaller firms are more discouraged by search and training time. Around thirty percent of employers prefer to hire the already employed over the unemployed because they believe that unemployed workers have lower abilities due to negative selection or skill depreciation during unemployment. Firms with such preferences are more likely to report hiring obstacles." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Brencic, Vera & Andrew McGee (2023): Demand for Personality Traits, Tasks, and Sorting. (IZA discussion paper / Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit 16576), Bonn, 69 S.

Abstract

"In job ads, employers express demand for personality traits when seeking workers to perform tasks that can be completed with different behaviors (e.g., communication, problem-solving) but not when seeking workers to perform tasks involving narrowly prescribed sets of behaviors such as routine and mathematics tasks. For many tasks, employers appear to demand narrower personality traits than those measured at the Big Five factor level. The job ads also exhibit substantial heterogeneity within occupations in the tasks mentioned. Workers may thus sort based on personality-derived comparative advantages in tasks into jobs rather than occupations. In the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, we confirm that personality sorting based on tasks occurs at both the occupation and job levels. In this sample, however, there is little evidence of task-specific wage returns to personality traits, which would influence the supply of traits to jobs with particular tasks. This may explain why personality sorting based on tasks in the sample is very limited in spite of the correlations between tasks and employers' demands for traits." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Carias, Cristina, Steven Klepper & Rui Baptista (2023): Entrepreneurship, the initial labor force, and the location of new firms. In: Small business economics, Jg. 60, H. 3, S. 865-890. DOI:10.1007/s11187-022-00618-5

Abstract

"We propose that new firm founders locate their firms close to their home region in order to hire workers they know about through their prior employment, since it is easier to find high productivity employees among talent pools for which you have significant personal experience. We test our proposition using a matched employer–employee dataset for Portugal. Consistent with our predictions, new firms in the same industry as their founder's prior employer (i.e., spinoffs) are more likely to locate in their founder's home region, to hire workers from the founder's prior employer and other firms in the same region and industry, to employ them longer, and to perform better than other new firms. Results suggest that the agglomeration of high performing spinoffs next to their parent firms should facilitate the emergence of successful industrial clusters." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © Springer-Verlag) ((en))

Zitatform

Chassamboulli, Andri & Pedro Gomes (2023): Public-sector employment, wages and education decisions. In: Labour Economics, Jg. 82. DOI:10.1016/j.labeco.2023.102345

Abstract

"We set up a search and matching model with a private and a public sector to understand the effects of employment and wage policies in the public sector on unemployment and education decisions. The effects on the educational composition of the labor force depend crucially on the structure of the labor market. An increase of skilled public-sector wages has a small positive impact on educational composition and larger negative impact on the private employment of skilled workers, if the two sectors are segmented. If there are movements across the two sectors, it has large positive impacts on education and on skilled private employment. We highlight the usefulness of the model for policymakers by calculating the value of public-sector job security for skilled and unskilled workers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2023 Elsevier) ((en))

Zitatform

Destefanis, Sergio, Matteo Fragetta & Nazzareno Ruggiero (2023): Active and passive labor-market policies: the outlook from the Beveridge curve. In: Applied Economics, Jg. 55, H. 55, S. 6538-6550. DOI:10.1080/00036846.2022.2159010

Abstract

"Following a panel ARDL approach, we appraise the impact of various indicators of active and passive labor-market policies within the framework of the Beveridge curve across fourteen OECD countries from 1985 to 2013, controlling for other factors, both institutional (tax wedge) and structural (technological progress, globalization). We embed the role of these variables within the specification of the Beveridge curve, finding that the generosity of unemployment benefits has a detrimental impact on labor-market matching, with the duration of benefits and the strictness of the rules pertaining to the deployment of benefits taking a key role in driving this result. Among active labor-market policies, employment incentives and especially training have a favourable effect on matching. There is evidence of a virtuous interaction between active and passive policies. A significantly detrimental role emerges for the tax wedge. These results are consistent across various specifications, and structural relationships are stable throughout the 2008–2013 period." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Glass, Jennifer, Kara Takasaki, Sharon Sassler & Emily Parker (2023): Finding a job: An intersectional analysis of search strategies and outcomes among U.S. STEM graduates. In: Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, Jg. 83. DOI:10.1016/j.rssm.2023.100758

Abstract

"Many STEM degree holders, especially women and minorities, are not employed in STEM occupations in the United States, and transitions into the STEM labor force among recent graduates have been declining since the 1980′s. We examine transitions from school to work at two large U.S. universities in 2015–16, focusing on the internship experiences and job search strategies of graduating chemistry and chemical engineering majors. Surprisingly, 28% of our STEM respondents had no post-graduation plans, though women were significantly more likely than men to already have a job. Overall race differences in post-graduation plans were insignificant, though Black and Hispanic students were more likely to have no post-graduation plans compared to Whites and Asians. While Black, Hispanic, and LGBT students reported fewer job search behaviors overall, potentially explaining this pattern, no gender differences in job search behaviors or internship experiences emerged to explain women's employment advantage. However, better grades led to early job offers, reducing most of women's initial hiring advantage along with positive internship experiences, which did not alter men's likelihood of a job offer but were associated with a higher likelihood of a job offer among women." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2023 Elsevier) ((en))

Zitatform

Kiss, Andrea, Robert Garlick, Kate Orkin & Lukas Hensel (2023): Jobseekers’ Beliefs about Comparative Advantage and (Mis)Directed Search. (Upjohn Institute working paper 388), Kalamazoo, Mich., 99 S. DOI:10.17848/wp23-388

Abstract

"Worker sorting into tasks and occupations has long been recognized as an important feature of labor markets. But this sorting may be inefficient if jobseekers have inaccurate beliefs about their skills and therefore apply to jobs that do not match their skills. To test this idea, we measure young South African jobseekers’ communication and numeracy skills and their beliefs about their skill levels. Many jobseekers believe they are better at the skill in which they score lower, relative to other jobseekers. These beliefs predict the skill requirements of jobs where they apply. In two field experiments, giving jobseekers their skill assessment results shifts their beliefs toward their assessment results. It also redirects their search toward jobs that value the skill in which they score relatively higher—using measures from administrative, incentivized task, and survey data—but does not increase total search effort. It also raises earnings and job quality, consistent with inefficient sorting due to limited information." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Lacava, Chiara (2023): Matching and sorting across regions. In: Journal of economic geography, Jg. 23, H. 4, S. 801-822. DOI:10.1093/jeg/lbac038

Abstract

"This article measures the effects of workers' mobility across regions characterised by different productivity levels through the lens of a search and matching model with heterogeneous workers and firms estimated using administrative data. In an application to Italy, the model estimates imply that the relocation of workers to the most productive region boosts employment and output at the country level, reduces inequality and widens productivity gaps. There is an interplay between the sorting of workers across regions and across firms, and migration mitigates the frictions caused by worker–firm sorting. The model allows for the evaluation of general equilibrium effects of place-based policies towards the least productive region. Subsidising the creation of high-technology jobs reduces migration substantially while increasing employment and productivity. In contrast, subsidies for hiring unemployed or high-skill migrants imply indirect effects that limit policy effectiveness." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Liontos, George, Konstantinos Mavrigiannakis & Eugenia Vella (2023): The Macroeconomics of Skills Mismatch in the Presence of Emigration. (Working paper series / Athens University of Economics and Business, Department of International and European Economic Studies 2023-14), Athen, 52 S.

Abstract

"Employment in mismatch (low-skill) jobs is a potential factor in the emigration of highly qualified workers. At the same time, high-skilled emigration and emigration of mismatch workers can free up positions for stayers. In bad times, it could also amplify demand losses and the unemployment spell, which in turn affects the mismatch rate. In this paper, we investigate the link between vertical skills mismatch and emigration of both non-mismatch and mismatch workers in a DSGE model. The model features also skill and wealth heterogeneous households, capital-skill complementarity (CSC) and labor frictions. We find that an adverse productivity shock reduces investment and primarily hurts the high-skilled who react by turning to both jobs abroad and mismatch jobs in the domestic labor market. A negative shock to government spending crowds-in investment and primarily hurts the low-skilled who thus turn to jobs abroad. Following the fiscal cut, the high-skilled instead reduce their search for mismatch employment and later they also reduce their search for jobs abroad." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Maibom, Jonas, Nikolaj Harmon, Anita Glenny & Jonas Fluchtmann (2023): Unemployed Job Search across People and over Time: Evidence from Applied-for Jobs. In: Journal of labor economics online erschienen am 06.04.2023, S. 1-40. DOI:10.1086/725165

Abstract

"Using data on applied-for jobs for the universe of Danish UI recipients, we examine variation in job search behavior both across individuals and over time during unemployment spells. We find large differences in the level of applied-for wages across individuals but over time all individuals adjust wages downward in the same way. The decline in applied-for wages over time is descriptively small but economically important in standard models of job search. We find similar results when examining variation in the non-wage characteristics of applied-for jobs and in the search methods used to find them. We discuss implications for theory." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Mylius, F. (2023): Why Personal Ties (Still) Matter: Referrals and Congestion. (Cambridge working papers in economics 2356), Cambridge, 21 S.

Abstract

"The internet has reduced search costs significantly, making it much easier to apply for a large number of jobs. In spite of that, the share of jobs found through personal contacts has remained stable over the past decades. My theoretical framework explores a new channel that makes referred candidates favorable for firms: a higher likelihood to accept a job offer. This trait becomes particularly advantageous whenever firms face large uncertainty over whether their candidates would accept their job offer. As we see, if search barriers vanish and workers apply to more firms, a referred candidate expects to face more competitors. On the other hand, with more applications being sent out, workers are, on average, less interested in each firm they apply to, which makes referred candidates stand out more. This means the chances of getting a job offer through a referral can increase if competing workers send out more applications." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Nichols, Bethany J., David S. Pedulla & Jeff T. Sheng (2023): More Than a Match: “Fit” as a Tool in Hiring Decisions. In: Work and occupations online erschienen am 17.12.2023, S. 1-29. DOI:10.1177/07308884231214279

Abstract

"The concept of “fit” has become important for understanding hiring decisions and labor market outcomes. While social scientists have explored how fit functions as a legitimized evaluative criterion to match candidates to jobs in the hiring process, less is known about how fit functions as a hiring tool to aid in decision-making when hiring decisions cannot—or should not—be justified. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 53 hiring professionals, we develop a theoretical argument that hiring professionals can use fit as a tool to circumvent legitimized hiring criteria and justify their hiring goals. Specifically, we show how hiring professionals use fit as a tool to explain their hiring decisions when these decisions cannot or should not be justified and we outline two mechanisms through which this process occurs: (1) fit as a tool for circumventing human capital concerns, and (2) fit as a tool to circumvent hiring policies based upon social characteristics. We argue that fit is more than an evaluative criterion for matching individuals to jobs. Hiring professionals deploy fit as a tool to justify their decisions amid uncertainty and constraint. Fit, then, becomes a placeholder when these hiring decisions are not able to be justified through legitimized means. Our findings reveal some of the potential negative consequences of using fit during the hiring process and contribute important theoretical insights about the role of fit in scholarship on inequality and labor markets." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Obadić, Alka & Viktor Viljevac (2023): Labour market tightness and matching efficiency in different labour market segments – do differences in education and occupation matter? (EFZG working paper series 2303), Zagreb, 47 S.

Abstract

"This paper analyses the existing educational and occupational structures of several EU member countries and their alignment with the needs of the labour market. Such a situation may indicate a structural mismatch in labour market in which the mismatch between the skills taught in schools and universities and the skills needed in the workplace appears. To evaluate this mismatch, the paper investigates the matching needs of employers and unemployed job seekers by disaggregating the registered employment office data by education and occupation groups in selected EU countries separately. More educated workers, as well as workers in more complex and better-paid occupations, might fare better when it comes to the aggregate labour market trends. For example, economic downturns and increases in unemployment might be felt more heavily by workers with lower education and those who work in professions requiring fewer skills. In this paper, we analyse the data for a selected group of countries (Austria, Croatia, Estonia, Slovenia, and Spain) from 2010 till 2022, using the Beveridge curves and estimate the labour market tightness and matching efficiency for different education and occupation groups. Our results show that differences in education levels and occupation result in relatively small deviations from aggregate trends in the labour market. Aggregate labour market trends therefore strongly impact all groups in the labour market, whether the market is segmented by education levels or by occupation. In other words, both the improvements in the labour market conditions and the worsening of labour market conditions have similar effects across different labour market segments." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Pominova, Mariya & Todd Gabe (2023): Population size and the job matching of college graduates. In: Applied Economics Letters, Jg. 30, H. 20, S. 2994-2997. DOI:10.1080/13504851.2022.2117774

Abstract

"This paper examines the relationship between a region’s population size and the match of college-educated workers to jobs that require a degree. Results show a positive relationship between degree match and county population size in the United States, with a 100,000-person increase in population associated with a 1.3-percentage point increase in the likelihood of a match. The analysis uses a person’s grade point average in college to account for the potential sorting of higher-skilled workers into larger urban areas and the dataset has individuals across a wide range of regions from small rural areas to big cities." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Quintini, Glenda & Luca Marcolin (2023): Measuring skill gaps in firms: the PIAAC Employer Module. (OECD social, employment and migration working papers 292), Paris, 42 S.

Abstract

"This paper introduces the Employer Module of the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), a new OECD survey designed to measure the imbalance between the supply of and demand for the skills needed in the workplace (skill gaps), and how this relates to companies' business strategy and hiring, training and human resource practices. The document first describes the added value of collecting such data, and the different streams of economic research it can contribute to. It then shows how the Module can complement worker-level information on skill imbalances collected in the OECD Survey of Adult Skills. Lastly, it presents the key technical features of the survey, including the questionnaire's conceptual development, the units of observation and coverage, the mode of administration, and the requirements for data cleaning and validation." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Rendon, Silvio (2023): Wage-Specific Search Intensity. (IZA discussion paper / Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit 15971), Bonn, 32 S.

Abstract

"I propose a model in which agents decide on job search intensity for each possible wage, unlike the usual setup of constant search intensity over wage draws. The proposed framework entails efficiency gains in that agents do not waste effort to searching for low paying unacceptable jobs or less offered high paying jobs. The proposed framework generates accepted wages distributions that differ substantially from the truncated distributions stemming from the usual setup. These different empirical implications are exploited for building two nonparametric tests, which reject constant search intensity over wages, using NLSY97 data. I further estimate the identifiable structural parameters of the two models resulting in better fit for the wage-specific setup. I quantify the increased effectiveness of wage-specific search in more total search intensity, faster transitions to the upper tail of the wage distribution, and higher wages, in particular, more than 25% increase in accepted wages after unemployment." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Roussille, Nina & Benjamin Scuderi (2023): Bidding for Talent: A Test of Conduct in a High-Wage Labor Market. (IZA discussion paper / Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit 16352), Bonn, 69 S.

Abstract

"We develop a procedure for adjudicating between models of firm wage-setting conduct. Using data on workers' choice sets and decisions over real jobs from a U.S. job search platform, we first estimate workers' rankings over firms' non-wage amenities. We document three key findings: 1) On average, workers are willing to accept 12.3% lower salaries for a 1-S.D. improvement in amenities. 2) Between-worker preference dispersion is equally large, indicating that preferences are not well-described by a single ranking. 3) High-paying firms have better amenities. Following the modern IO literature, we use these estimates to formulate a test of conduct based on exclusion restrictions. Oligopsonistic models incorporating strategic interactions between firms and tailoring of wage offers to workers' outside options are rejected in favor of simpler monopsonistic models featuring near-uniform markdowns. Misspecification has meaningful consequences: while our preferred model predicts average markdowns of 19.5%, others predict average markdowns as large as 26.6%." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Schmidpeter, Bernhard (2023): Labor Market News and Expectations about Jobs & Earnings. (Working paper / Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler Universität of Linz 2023-14), Linz, 30 S.

Abstract

"Little is known about how workers update expectations about job search and earnings when exposed to labor market news. To identify the impact of news on expectations, I exploit Foxconn's unexpected announcement to build a manufacturing plant in Racine County. Exposure to positive news leads to an increase in expected salary growth at the current firm. Individuals also revise their expectations about outside offers upward, anchoring their beliefs to Foxconn's announced wages. They act on their updated beliefs with a small increase in current consumption. Negative news from a scaled-down plan leads to a revision of expectations back toward baseline." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Schulz, Bastian (2023): Labor Market Dynamics with Sorting. (IZA discussion paper / Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit 16467), Bonn, S. 37.

Abstract

"I study a dynamic search-matching model with two-sided heterogeneity, a production complementarity that induces labor market sorting, and aggregate shocks. In response to a positive productivity shock, incentives to sort increase disproportionately. Firms respond by posting additional vacancies, and the strength of the response is increasing in firm productivity. The distribution of unemployment worker types adjusts slowly, which amplifies job creation in the short run. In the long run, falling unemployment curtails the firms' vacancy posting. The model closely matches time-series moments from U.S. labor market data and produces realistic degrees of wage dispersion and labor market sorting." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Vecchi, Michela, Catherine Robinson, Maja Savic & Marina Romiti (2023): Vertical and Horizontal Mismatch in the UK: Are Graduates' Skills a Good Fit for Their Jobs? (NIESR discussion paper 548), London, 39 S.

Abstract

"Understanding the skill mismatch among graduates, its causes and consequences is crucial for an economy as it reveals an inefficient allocation of resources that can lead to a decline in workers' wages and in a country's overall productivity performance. This study contributes to the skill mismatch debate by examining graduates' vertical and horizontal mismatch in the UK. Using the 2017 Annual Population Survey, we introduce a new, objective measure of horizontal mismatch (fit index) and account for skills beyond education. Performance of the fit index is compared with a standard measure of vertical mismatch, that typically refers to graduates employed in non-graduate jobs. We find that approximately 30% of graduates in the UK are employed in non-graduate jobs, while nearly 33% work in fields unrelated to their degree subject. Using information on the skill classification of occupations (SOC2010), we adjust these overall figures controlling for unobservable skills. This allows us to derive six skill groups, each capturing the distance between graduates' skills and those required on the job. At the top of skill distribution, we find graduates who are matched in terms of qualification and skills (44%), followed by those who are only horizontally mismatched, that is those who are employed in an occupation requiring a university degree but whose field of study does not match the requirements of the job (23%). At the bottom of the skill distribution, we find graduates who are overqualified on paper but whose skills are likely to be very close to those required on the job (16%). These graduates are particularly penalized in terms of wages. In fact, our estimates show that they earn approximately 40% less compared to those with a perfect job match. This wage penalty, on the other hand, is substantially lower for graduates who are only horizontally mismatched (approximately 2%). However, although for individuals a pure horizontal mismatch does not impose a strong downward p" (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Zuchuat, Jeremy, Rafael Lalive, Aderonke Osikominu, Lorenzo Pesaresi & Josef Zweimüller (2023): Duration Dependence in Finding a Job: Applications, Interviews, and Job Offers. (IZA discussion paper / Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit 16602), Bonn, 94 S.

Abstract

"The job finding rate declines with the duration of unemployment. While this is a well established fact, the reasons are still disputed. We use monthly search diaries from Swiss public employment offices to shed new light on this issue. Search diaries record all applications sent by job seekers, including the outcome of each application – whether the employer followed up with a job interview and a job offer. Based on more than 600,000 applications sent by 15,000 job seekers, we find that job applications and job interviews decrease, but job offers (after an interview) increase with duration. A model with statistical discrimination by firms and learning from search outcomes by workers replicates these empirical duration patterns closely. The structurally estimated model predicts that 55 percent of the decline in the job finding rate is due to "true" duration dependence, while the remaining 45 percent is due to dynamic selection of the unemployment pool. We also discuss further drivers of the observed duration patterns, such as human capital depreciation, stock-flow matching, depletion of one's personal network, and changes in application targeting or quality." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Altmann, Steffen, Anita Marie Glenny, Robert Mahlstedt & Alexander Sebald (2022): The Direct and Indirect Effects of Online Job Search Advice. (IZA discussion paper / Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit 15830), Bonn, 44 S.

Abstract

"We study how online job search advice affects the job search strategies and labor market outcomes of unemployed workers. In a large-scale field experiment, we provide job seekers with vacancy information and occupational recommendations through an online dashboard. A clustered randomization procedure with regionally varying treatment intensities allows us to account for treatment spillovers. Our results show that online advice is highly effective when the share of treated workers is relatively low: in regions where less than 50% of job seekers are exposed to the treatment, working hours and earnings of treated job seekers increase by 8.5–9.5% in the year after the intervention. At the same time, we find substantial negative spillovers on other treated job seekers for higher treatment intensities, resulting from increased competition between treated job seekers who apply for similar vacancies." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Belot, Michele, Philipp Kircher & Paul Muller (2022): How wage announcements affect job search. A field experiment. In: American Economic Journal. Macroeconomics, Jg. 14, H. 4, S. 1-67. DOI:10.1257/mac.20200116

Abstract

"In a field experiment, we study how job seekers respond to posted wages by assigning wages randomly to pairs of otherwise similar vacancies in a large number of professions. Higher wages attract significantly more interest. Still, a nontrivial number of applicants only reveal an interest in the low-wage vacancy. With a complementary survey, we show that external raters perceive higher-wage jobs as more competitive. These findings qualitatively support core predictions of theories of directed/competitive search, though in the simplest calibrated model, applications react too strongly to the wage. We discuss extensions such as on-the-job search that rectify this." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Belot, Michèle, Philipp Kircher & Paul Muller (2022): Do the Long-Term Unemployed Benefit from Automated Occupational Advice during Online Job Search? (IZA discussion paper 15452), Bonn, 34 S.

Abstract

"In a randomized field experiment, we provide personalized suggestions about suitable alternative occupations to long-term unemployed job seekers in the UK. The suggestions are automatically generated, integrated in an online job search platform, and fed into actual search queries. Effects on the primary pre-registered outcomes of “finding a stable job” and “reaching a cumulative earnings threshold” are positive, are significant among those who searched at least once, and are more pronounced for those who are longer unemployed. Treated individuals include more occupations in their search and find more jobs in recommended occupations." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Bradley, Jake (2022): Worker-Firm Screening and the Business Cycle. (IZA discussion paper 15017), Bonn, 50 S.

Abstract

"There has been a substantial body of work modeling the co-movement of employment, vacancies, and output over the business cycle. This paper builds on this literature, and informed by empirical investigation, models worker and firm search and hiring behavior in a manner consistent with recent micro-evidence. Consistent with empirical findings, for a given vacancy, a firm receives many applicants, and chooses their preferred candidate amongst the set. Similarly, workers in both unemployment and employment, can evaluate many open vacancies simultaneously and choose to which they make an application. Business cycles are propagated through turbulence in the economy. Structural parameters of the model are estimated on U.S. data, targeting aggregate time series. The model can generate large volatility in unemployment, vacancies, and worker flows across jobs and employment state. Further, it provides a theoretical mechanism for the shift in the Beveridge curve after the 2008 recession - a phenomenon often referred to as the jobless recovery. That is, persistently low employment after the recession, despite output per worker and vacancies having returned to pre-crisis levels." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Card, David (2022): Who Set Your Wage? (NBER working paper 29683), Cambridge, Mass, 30 S. DOI:10.3386/w29683

Abstract

"I discuss the recent literature that has led to new interest in the idea of monopsonistic wage setting. Building on advances in search theory and in models of differentiated products, researchers have used a number of different strategies to identify the elasticity of firm-specific labor supply. A growing consensus is that firms have some wage-setting power, though many questions remain about the sources of that power." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Coraggio, Luca, Marco Pagano, Annalisa Scognamiglio & Joacim Tåg (2022): JAQ of All Trades: Job Mismatch, Firm Productivity and Managerial Quality. (IFN working paper / Research Institute of Industrial Economic 1427), Stockholm, 37 S.

Abstract

"Does the matching between workers and jobs help explain productivity differentials across firms? To address this question we develop a job-worker allocation quality measure (JAQ) by combining employer-employee administrative data with machine learning techniques. The proposed measure is positively and significantly associated with labor earnings over workers' careers. At firm level, it features a robust positive correlation with firm productivity, and with managerial turnover leading to an improvement in the quality and experience of management. JAQ can be constructed for any employer-employee data including workers' occupations, and used to explore the effect of corporate restructuring on workers' allocation and careers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Gutfleisch, Tamara & Robin Samuel (2022): Hiring in border regions: experimental and qualitative evidence from a recruiter survey in Luxembourg. In: Journal for labour market research, Jg. 56. DOI:10.1186/s12651-022-00327-2

Abstract

"Firms in border regions typically deal with heterogeneous applicant pools that include both (foreign) domestic workers and cross-border commuters. However, we know little about recruiters’ workforce needs and hiring practices in cross-border labour markets. Based on a survey of real recruiters in Luxembourg, this study presents experimental and qualitative findings on the role of country of residence in recruiters’ hiring intentions against foreigners. Luxembourg presents a rarely studied but highly relevant case for hiring practices owing to a combination of a strong economy, strict labour market regulations, and a transnational workforce. Drawing on data from a factorial survey experiment, we found no discrimination against Portuguese and French applicants living in Luxembourg. Yet, (highly skilled) cross-border workers from France and Germany faced disadvantages regarding recruiters’ hiring intentions. However, differences in effect sizes between foreigners and cross-border workers were small and not statistically significant. When further asked about the potential challenges of recruiting in Luxembourg’s cross-border labour market, respondents expressed concerns about flexibility, poor social fit, and cultural differences in hiring foreign and cross-border employees. Overall, our study provides further points of reference for studies on hiring intentions in cross-border labour markets across Europe." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © Springer-Verlag) ((en))

Zitatform

Leknes, Stefan, Jørn Rattsø & Hildegunn E. Stokke (2022): Assortative labor matching, city size, and the education level of workers. In: Regional Science and Urban Economics, Jg. 96. DOI:10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2022.103806

Abstract

"We investigate the heterogeneity of assortative labor matching with respect to geography, skills, and tasks. Our contribution is to separate plant quality by education level and occupation tasks using the AKM-model. We introduce a geology-related instrument to analyze the city effect and address limited mobility bias. Using rich administrative worker-plant dataset for Norway, we show that matching of the college educated have a strong city effect. The IV estimates indicate that a doubling of city size increases the correlation between worker and plant quality by 9 percentage points. A wage decomposition shows that matching accounts for 22% of the urban wage premium adjusted for sorting. In terms of occupations, better matching in cities is observed only for non-routine abstract tasks." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2022 Elsevier) ((en))

Zitatform

Liechti, David, Mirjam Suri, Thomas Möhr, Patrick Arni & Michael Siegenthaler (2022): Methoden der Stellensuche und Stellensucherfolg. Arbeitsmarktstudie. (Grundlagen für die Wirtschaftspolitik / Staatssekretariat für Wirtschaft SECO 33), Bern, 104 S.

Abstract

"Die Studie setzt sich mit der Frage auseinander, wie beim RAV gemeldete Stellensuchende nach Stellen suchen und was eine erfolgreiche Suche ausmacht. Die Analyse wurde mittels Befragungen von Stellensuchenden (Anmeldungen 2019, bzw. wiederholte Befragung Anmeldungen Mai 2021) sowie Daten der Arbeitslosenstatistik durchgeführt. Im Durchschnitt setzen Stellensuchende wöchentlich etwa 19 Stunden für Bewerbungen ein, etwas weniger als die Hälfte (knapp neun Stunden) werden für die Identifikation von passenden Stellen aufgewendet, die weiteren knapp zehn Stunden werden in das Verfassen von Bewerbungen investiert. Über 95 Prozent der Stellensuchenden nutzen sowohl analoge als auch Online-Suchkanäle. Die Kanäle, welche am häufigsten genutzt werden, sind allgemeine Jobbörsen, Suchmaschinen im Internet, Webseiten von Arbeitgebern, das persönliche Netzwerk sowie Initiativ-bewerbungen. Rund 62 Prozent aller Befragten nutzen arbeit.swiss/Job-Room – die Jobplattform der öffentlichen Arbeitsvermittlung – mehrmals monatlich für die Stellensuche. Die Nutzung der Plattform ist bei Geringqualifizierten und Personen ohne Kenntnisse der Landessprachen bedeutend geringer. Generell selten werden beispielsweise Inserate in Zeitungen als Suchkanal genutzt. Rund drei Viertel der Stellensuchenden nutzen zwischen sieben und elf Kanäle parallel (von zwölf in dieser Studie differenzierten Suchkanälen). Am häufigsten kam der entscheidende Hinweis auf die Stelle, welche angetreten werden konnte, aus dem persönlichen Netzwerk oder die Stelle wurde auf einer allgemeinen Jobbörse identifiziert. Regelmässig werden die Stellensuchenden aber auch von Personalvermittlungsfirmen oder Arbeitgebern direkt kontaktiert und kommen so an eine neue Stelle. Es zeigen sich Auffälligkeiten nach Untergruppen: Stellensuchende ab 55 Jahren nutzen im Vergleich zu jüngeren Stellensuchenden etwas seltener Online-Kanäle, sichten dafür aber häufiger Zeitungsinserate. In Bezug auf den Erfolg von Suchkanälen weichen die älteren Stellensuchenden allerdings nicht vom Durchschnitt ab (die drei erfolgreichsten Kanäle entsprechen denjenigen des Durchschnitts). Weiter sind Personen, welche nicht mindestens eine Landessprache gut beherrschen, mit Jobbörsen im Internet kaum erfolgreich. Da diese Gruppe aber Jobbörsen nicht signifikant seltener nutzt, interpretieren wir dies nicht als Hürde bei der Nutzung, sondern als Hindernis beim Erstellen des Bewerbungsdossiers. Zudem gehen beispielsweise für Initiativbewerbungen bei Hilfsarbeitskräften eine hohe Nutzung und hohe Erfolgsraten einher. Die gewählten Strategien unterscheiden sich kaum zwischen Stellensuchenden, die eine Stelle gefunden haben und solchen, die keine gefunden haben. Die Suchstrategie wird über eine längere Suchdauer teilweise angepasst. Kurzfristig, bzw. in den ersten Monaten der Arbeitslosigkeit, ist die Veränderung allerdings sehr gering (bezüglich Suchintensität und auch Wahl der genutzten Kanäle). Generell scheint es, dass eher das Suchfeld verbreitert wird und keine Anpassungen bezüglich der Wahl der Suchkanäle stattfindet." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

Zitatform

Lisauskaite, Elena (2022): Matching Efficiency and Heterogeneous Workers in the UK. (IZA discussion paper / Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit 15610), Bonn, 40 S.

Abstract

"The matching efficiency of the standard matching function is known to follow a pro-cyclical pattern. An observed rightward shift in the UK's Beveridge Curve after the Great Recession, suggests a decrease in the matching efficiency between vacancies and unemployed workers. This paper studies the changes in the labour market's efficiency over the period between 2001 and 2015 in the UK, and decomposes various factors behind it, such as industrial labour market segmentation and characteristics of unemployed, using the standard aggregate matching function. Consistent with the findings for the US (Barnichon and Figura (2015), Hall and Schulhofer-Wohl (2018)), I find that the UK labour market experienced a decrease in the matching efficiency during the Great Recession. However, contrary to what Barnichon & Figura (2015) observed in the US, composition of the labour market did not account for much of this decrease, leaving labour market tightness as the main factor for the decline in efficiency in matching unemployed workers and available vacancies. Accounting for labour market segmentation and worker heterogeneity, can explain 24% of movements in the matching efficiency over the period between 2001Q3 and 2014Q3." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Obukhova, Elena & Brian Rubineau (2022): Market Transition and Network-Based Job Matching in China: The Referrer Perspective. In: ILR review, Jg. 75, H. 1, S. 200-224. DOI:10.1177/0019793920937234

Abstract

"To better understand how network-based job matching responds to market development, the authors investigate network matching in China. They examine this question from the perspective of referrers, those who share information about job opportunities with potential job candidates. Using unique data from a population survey and leveraging interprovincial differences in market development, the authors show that market development has a negative association with individuals’ propensity to share job information. People who work at firms that offer a referral bonus and people who work at private firms, however, are more likely to share information and share it with more people, and the number of such employers increases with market transition. This increase can produce a positive association between market development and overall prevalence of job information-sharing. Results clarify the role employer-side processes play in job information-sharing and carry important implications for understanding network matching." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Ocampo, Sergio (2022): A Task-Based Theory of Occupations with Multidimensional Heterogeneity. (Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP) working paper series 2022-02), London, Ontario, 64 S.

Abstract

"I develop an assignment model of occupations with multidimensional heterogeneity in production tasks and worker skills. Tasks are distributed continuously in the skill space, whereas workers have a discrete distribution with a finite number of types. Occupations arise endogenously as bundles of tasks optimally assigned to a type of worker. The model allows us to study how occupations respond to changes in the economic environment, making it useful for analyzing the implications of automation, skill-biased technical change, offshoring, and worker training. Using the model, I characterize how wages, the marginal product of workers, the substitutability between worker types, and the labor share depend on the assignment of tasks to workers. I introduce automation as the choice of the optimal size and location of a mass of identical robots in the task space. Automation displaces workers by replacing them in the performance of tasks, generating a cascading effect on other workers as the boundaries of occupations are redrawn." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Papageorgiou, Theodore (2022): Occupational Matching and Cities. In: American Economic Journal. Macroeconomics, Jg. 14, H. 3, S. 82-132. DOI:10.1257/mac.20180122

Abstract

"In this paper, I document that workers in larger cities have significantly more occupational options than workers in smaller ones. They are able to form better occupational matches and earn higher wages. I also note differences in occupation reallocation patterns across cities. I develop a dynamic model of occupation choice that microfounds agglomeration economies and captures the empirical patterns. The calibration of the model suggests that better occupational match quality accounts for approximately 35 percent of the observed wage premium and one-third of the greater inequality in larger cities." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Shi, Lulu P. & Senhu Wang (2022): Demand-side consequences of unemployment and horizontal skill mismatches across national contexts: An employer-based factorial survey experiment. In: Social science research, Jg. 104. DOI:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2021.102668

Abstract

"With growing flexibilization in the labour market, continuous and consistent career trajectories have become less the norm, and workers facing unemployment may need to look for employment opportunities outside the occupation they are trained in. But what are their employment chances? And what are the chances of returning to the occupation they were trained in after having worked in a different occupation? Despite much research on how employers evaluate job candidates with vertical skill mismatches (e.g. over-qualification and under-qualification) and unemployment, there is little research to investigate how employers view horizontal mismatch in comparison to unemployment, and whether a combination of both generates multiplicative negative effects. Using data gathered from an employer survey experiment in Switzerland and Greece, we find that in Switzerland both unemployment and horizontal mismatch significantly reduce employment chances, but the scarring effect of horizontal mismatch is much stronger. In contrast, in Greece horizontal mismatch significantly reduces employment chances but unemployment does not. Furthermore, we found that horizontal mismatch scarring is significantly stronger in Switzerland than in Greece. These findings suggest that the scarring effects of both unemployment and horizontal mismatch vary across contexts. Further analyses show that, rather than experiencing multiplicative scarring effects, unemployment does not add further disadvantages to mismatched candidates in either country, highlighting the importance of occupational specificity of skills in labour market matching. Overall, these findings facilitate a more nuanced understanding of demand-side labour market processes, highlighting the distinct interactive effects of unemployment and horizontal mismatch across national contexts." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2022 Elsevier) ((en))

Zitatform

Summerfield, Fraser (2022): Economic conditions, task shares, and overqualification. In: Oxford economic papers, Jg. 74, H. 1, S. 40-61. DOI:10.1093/oep/gpab002

Abstract

"This article demonstrates that economic conditions affect job match quality by influencing the task shares of available jobs. Cognitive (reasoning/communication) and physical (sensory/coordination) task shares and education-based overqualification measures are generated from Canada’s Labour Force Survey, the Career Handbook, and the Occupational Information Network database. In unfavourable labour markets, cognitive task intensity decreases and physical task intensity rises. The task content of newly formed jobs is then shown to be an important empirical determinant of overqualification. A calibrated search model that accounts for these findings quantifies the costs of increased overqualification. Each percentage point increase in unemployment raises overqualification by 5.8 percentage points, partly due to changes in task shares. Economic output subsequently decreases by about 0.6%." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Uemura, Yuki (2022): Job Search Intensity and Wage Rigidity in Business Cycles. (KIER discussion paper series 1078), Kyoto, 34 S.

Abstract

"This paper examines the job search behavior of unemployed workers over the business cycle. The paper first constructs a standard search and matching model with endogenous search efforts, wage rigidity, and a generalized matching function. Contrary to the existing literature, the proposed model generates both procyclical and countercyclical search intensity, depending on the degree of wage rigidity and the elasticity parameter of the matching function. The paper then calibrates the model to the U.S. economy and provides various impulse response analyses. The numerical exercises show that the model successfully and simultaneously reproduces countercyclical search efforts and sizable labor market fluctuations." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Vacchiano, Mattia (2022): Nine Mechanisms of Job-Searching and Job-Finding Through Contacts Among Young Adults. In: Sociological research online, Jg. 27, H. 2, S. 361-378. DOI:10.1177/13607804211009525

Abstract

"Since Granovetter’s seminal works, the influence of personal networks on the labour market has attracted widespread attention. This article analyses the role played by contacts in the context of the labour trajectories of young people in Spain, for whom the use of personal networks represents one of the most important job-searching methods. Using narrative data extracted from a life-history grid and ego-network generator, the analysis brings to light nine mechanisms in which personal contacts intervene in job-searching and job-finding in a sample of 90 young people living in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. The article emphasizes that contacts play primarily three roles in these processes as informers, employers, or influencers. This distinction offers a renewed framework for the study of networks in the labour market, further complementing the debate on the strength of ties. Using this framework allows me to create a map of the mechanisms that shed light on personal networks as tools with which to deal with labour insecurity and unemployment among young people, thus providing resources that to a large extent reaffirm the objective character of class differences. The article offers innovative insights into how social capital operates in the labour market and helps understand how youth precarity, which is widespread in Spain, is experienced in a relational way." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Arthur, Rudy (2021): Studying the UK job market during the COVID-19 crisis with online job ads. In: PLoS ONE, Jg. 16, H. 5. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0251431

Abstract

"The COVID-19 global pandemic and the lockdown policies enacted to mitigate it have had profound effects on the labour market. Understanding these effects requires us to obtain and analyse data in as close to real time as possible, especially as rules change rapidly and local lockdowns are enacted. This work studies the UK labour market by analysing data from the online job board Reed.co.uk, using topic modelling and geo-inference methods to break down the data by sector and geography. I also study how the salary, contract type, and mode of work have changed since the COVID-19 crisis hit the UK in March. Overall, vacancies were down by 60 to 70% in the first weeks of lockdown. By the end of the year numbers had recovered somewhat, but the total job ad deficit is measured to be over 40%. Broken down by sector, vacancies for hospitality and graduate jobs are greatly reduced, while there were more care work and nursing vacancies during lockdown. Differences by geography are less significant than between sectors, though there is some indication that local lockdowns stall recovery and less badly hit areas may have experienced a smaller reduction in vacancies. There are also small but significant changes in the salary distribution and number of full time and permanent jobs. As well as the analysis, this work presents an open methodology that enables a rapid and detailed survey of the job market in unsettled conditions and describes a web application jobtrender.com that allows others to query this data set." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Bagger, Jesper, Francois Fontaine, Manolis Galenianos & Ija Trapeznikova (2021): Vacancies, Employment Outcomes and Firm Growth: Evidence from Denmark. (IZA discussion paper 14436), Bonn, 31 S.

Abstract

"We use comprehensive data from Denmark that combine online job advertisements with a matched employer-employee dataset and a firm-level dataset with information on revenues and value added to study the relationship between vacancy-posting and various firm outcomes. Posting a vacancy is associated with a 4.5 percentage point increase in a firm's hiring rate and two-thirds of the additional hiring occurs within two months. The response of hiring from employment is twice as large as the response of hiring from non-employment. Firms that are smaller, low-wage and fast-growing are associated with larger hiring responses and that response materializes faster at larger firms, low-wage firms and fast-growing firms. We also find that separations are associated with subsequent vacancy posting and this effect is stronger for separations to employment, consistent with replacement hiring and the presence of vacancy chains. Growth in revenue and value added strongly predict vacancy-posting, with negative shocks having a stronger effect than positive shocks and larger shocks having less-than-proportional responses." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Balgová, Mária, Simon Trenkle, Christian Zimpelmann & Nico Pestel (2021): Job Search during a Pandemic Recession: Survey Evidence from the Netherlands. (IZA discussion paper 14180), Bonn, 36 S.

Abstract

"This paper studies job search behavior in the midst of a pandemic recession. We use long-running panel data from the Netherlands (LISS) and complement the core survey with our own COVID-specific module, conducted in June 2020, surveying job search effort of employed as well as unemployed respondents. We estimate an empirical model of job search over the business cycle over the period 2008-2019 to explore the gap between predicted and actual job search behavior in 2020. We find that job search during the pandemic recession differs strongly from previous downturns. The unemployed search significantly less than what we would normally observe during a recession of this size, while the employed search mildly more. Expectations about the duration of the pandemic seem to play a key role in explaining job search effort for the unemployed in 2020. Furthermore, employed subjects affected by changes in employment status due to COVID-19 are more likely to search for a job. Conversely, beliefs about infection risk do not seem to be related to job search in a systematic way." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Bernstein, Joshua, Alexander W. Richter & Nathaniel Throckmorton (2021): Nonlinear Search and Matching Explained. (Working paper / Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Research Department 2106), Dallas, TX, 28 S. DOI:10.24149/wp2106

Abstract

"Competing explanations for the sources of nonlinearity in search and matching models indicate that they are not fully understood. This paper derives an analytical solution to a textbook model that highlights the mechanisms that generate nonlinearity and quantifies their contributions. Procyclical variation in the matching elasticity creates nonlinearity in the job finding rate, which interacts with the law of motion for unemployment. These results show the matching function choice is not innocuous. Quantitatively, the Den Haan et al. (2000) matching function more than doubles the skewness of unemployment and welfare cost of business cycles, compared to the Cobb-Douglas specification." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Bransch, Felix (2021): Job search intensity of unemployed Workers and the business cycle. In: Economics Letters, Jg. 205, S. 1-4. DOI:10.1016/j.econlet.2021.109927

Abstract

"This paper provides empirical evidence for the cyclicality in the job search intensity of unemployed workers using data on job search behavior from the Dutch National Bank Household Survey (DHS), an annual panel survey, for the years 1993 until 2018. I find that job search intensity is counter-cyclical, adding to the mixed results of prior studies that mainly rely on data from the US. This finding is robust to using different measures of search intensity and business cycle indicators. The counter-cyclical pattern seems to be driven by changes in the composition of searchers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2021 Elsevier) ((en))

Zitatform

Brun-Schammé, Amandine & Martin Rey (2021): A new approach to skills mismatch. (OECD productivity working papers 24), Paris, 28 S. DOI:10.1787/e9563c2a-en

Abstract

"Skills mismatch - the sub-optimal use of an individual's skills in their occupation - can be a source of dissatisfaction for workers and a brake for productivity growth. In our view, a difference in the level of skills within an occupation is not sufficient to infer that a skills mismatch exists. Since skills-mismatch is the result of a disparity between the supply and demand of labour, the quantifying of skills-mismatch must therefore be based on the mechanisms involved in this disparity. We propose to include in our measurement the level of education and field of study, which are key markers of an individual's skill level in the labour market. This makes it possible to identify, among individuals whose skill level differs from others within an occupation, those whose training profile can (or cannot) explain this situation. Through using the OECD PIAAC 2012 survey, this paper first identifies with data for France, individuals who present an apparent skills mismatch according to the framework proposed. Following an international comparison of “apparent skills mismatch rates”, we conclude this study by observing how the different groups identified differ in terms of how they perceive their employment situation as well as their individual characteristics." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Böheim, René & Michael Christl (2021): Mismatch Unemployment in Austria. The Role of Regional Labour Markets for Skills. (CESifo working paper 9080), München, 38 S.

Abstract

"During the last decade, the Austrian labour market experienced a substantial outward shift of the Beveridge curve. Using detailed administrative data on vacancies and registered unemployed by region and skill level, we test which factors caused this shift. We find that the Beveridge curve shifted primarily because mismatch increased substantially. Looking on the regional and skill dimension of mismatch unemployment, we find a substantial increase of mismatch unemployment for manual routine tasks as well as for the region of Vienna." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Cattani, Luca, Stefano Dughera & Fabio Landini (2021): Interlocking Complementarities Between Job Design And Labour Contracts. (Working paper series / Dipartimento economia e statistica "Cognetti de Martiis" 2021,14), Torino, 44 S.

Abstract

"The drivers of large within-industry heterogeneity in the use of non-standard employment are still poorly understood. Specifically, there is little evidence on how firm-specific factors related to the organization of work affect the diversity of hiring decisions. This paper contributes to this line of research by studying the existence of interlocking complementarities between job design and labour contract at the firm level. Using a formal model, we show that firms face two organizational equilibria: one in which job designs with high routine task intensity are matched with a large use of non-standard contracts; and the other in which low routine task intensity combines with a small use of non-standard contracts. These complementarities exist because while non-standard contracts allow firm to adjust to external shocks, they also provide little incentive to invest in firm-specific knowledge. Since the cost associated with the lack of such knowledge is lower (higher) in firms with high (low) routine task intensity, they are also more (less) likely to use this type of contracts. We test the predictions of our model using linked-employer-employee data from the Emilia-Romagna region. We build an index of firm's routine task intensity by matching information from INAPP data at the occupation level. The empirical evidence is consistent with our theory: the use of non-standard contracts is positively associated with routine task intensity at the firm level. This result holds controlling for a wide range of firm-specific and contextual covariates and it is robust to alternative estimation methods (OLS, panel and IV). The related managerial and policy implications are discussed." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Desiere, Sam & Ludo Struyven (2021): Using Artificial Intelligence to classify Jobseekers: The Accuracy-Equity Trade-off. In: Journal of Social Policy, Jg. 50, H. 2, S. 367-385. DOI:10.1017/S0047279420000203

Abstract

"Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly popular in the public sector to improve the cost-efficiency of service delivery. One example is AI-based profiling models in public employment services (PES), which predict a jobseeker's probability of finding work and are used to segment jobseekers in groups. Profiling models hold the potential to improve identification of jobseekers at-risk of becoming long-term unemployed, but also induce discrimination. Using a recently developed AI-based profiling model of the Flemish PES, we assess to what extent AI-based profiling 'discriminates' against jobseekers of foreign origin compared to traditional rule-based profiling approaches. At a maximum level of accuracy, jobseekers of foreign origin who ultimately find a job are 2.6 times more likely to be misclassified as 'high-risk' jobseekers. We argue that it is critical that policymakers and caseworkers understand the inherent trade-offs of profiling models, and consider the limitations when integrating these models in daily operations. We develop a graphical tool to visualize the accuracy-equity trade-off in order to facilitate policy discussions." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Engbom, Niklas (2021): Contagious Unemployment. (NBER working paper 28829), Cambridge, MA, 46, 24 S.

Abstract

"Recent micro evidence of how workers search for jobs is shown to have critical implications for the macroeconomic propagation of labor market shocks. Unemployed workers send over 10 times as many job applications in a month as their employed peers, but are less than half as likely per application to make a move. I interpret these patterns as the unemployed applying for more jobs that they are less likely to be a good fit for. During periods of high unemployment, it consequently becomes harder for firms to assert who is a good fit for the job. By raising the cost of recruiting, a short-lived adverse shock has a persistent negative impact on the job finding rate. I provide evidence that firms spend more time on recruiting when unemployment is high, quantitatively consistent with the theory." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Forsythe, Eliza & Russell Weinstein (2021): Recruiting Intensity, Hires, and Vacancies: Evidence from Firm-Level Data. (IZA discussion paper 14138), Bonn, 42 S.

Abstract

"We investigate employer recruiting behavior, using detailed firm-level data from a national survey of employers hiring recent college graduates. We show employers adjust recruiting effort, hiring standards, and compensation with the business cycle, beliefs about tightness, and their own hiring plans. We then show that firms expending greater recruiting effort hire more individuals per vacancy. The results suggest that when firms want to increase hires they adjust vacancies and recruiting intensity per vacancy, which may help explain the breakdown in the standard matching function during the Great Recession. Our measure of recruiting effort explains roughly 16% of the residual elasticity of the vacancy yield with respect to hires." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Galanakis, Yannis (2021): "Are you in the right job?" Human Capital Mismatch in the UK. (GLO discussion paper / Global Labor Organization 976), Essen, 58 S.

Abstract

"This paper examines a problem of worker misallocation into jobs. A theoretical model, allowing for heterogeneous workers and firms, shows that job search frictions generate mismatch between employees and employers. In the empirical analysis, the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), the UK household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) and British Cohort Study 1970 (BCS70) data are used to measure the incidence of mismatch, how it changes over time and whether it can be explained by unobserved ability. Results show that (i) the incidence of mismatch increases after the Great Recession. (ii) Individual transitions to/from matching take place due to workers' occupational mobility and over-time skills development. (iii) Employees can find better jobs or their mobility occurs earlier than the aggregate change of skills. (iv) Controlling for individual heterogeneity, measured by cognitive and non-cognitive skill test scores throughout childhood, does not decrease the incidence of mismatch. This suggests that unobserved productivity does not generate mismatch in the labour market." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Gorn, Alexey (2021): The role of headhunters in wage inequality: It's all about matching. In: Review of Economic Dynamics, Jg. 40, S. 309-346. DOI:10.1016/j.red.2020.10.006

Zitatform

Heller, Sara B. & Judd B. Kessler (2021): The Effects of Letters of Recommendation in the Youth Labor Market. (NBER working paper 29579), Cambridge, Mass, 43 S. DOI:10.3386/w29579

Abstract

"Youth employment has been near historic lows in recent years, and racial gaps persist. This paper tests whether information frictions limit young people's labor market success with a field experiment involving over 43,000 youth in New York City. We build software that allows employers to quickly and easily produce letters of recommendation for randomly selected youth who worked under their supervision during a summer youth employment program. We then send these letters to nearly 9,000 youth over two years. Being sent a letter generates a 3 percentage point (4.5 percent) increase in employment the following year, with both employment and earnings increases persisting over the two-year follow-up period. By posting our own job advertisement, we document that while treatment youth do use the letters in applications, there is no evidence of other supply-side responses (i.e., no increased job search, motivation, or confidence); effects appear to be driven by the demand side. Labor market benefits accrue primarily to racial and ethnic minorities, suggesting frictions may contribute to racial employment gaps. But improved employment may also hamper on-time high school graduation. Additional evidence indicates that letters help improve job match quality. Results suggest that expanding the availability of credible signals about young workers—particularly for those not on the margin of graduating high school—could improve the efficiency of the youth labor market." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Kekezi, Orsa & Ron Boschma (2021): Returns to migration after job loss - The importance of job match. In: Environment and planning. A, Economy and space, Jg. 53, H. 6, S. 1565-1587. DOI:10.1177/0308518X211004577

Abstract

"Loss of specific human capital is often identified as a mechanism through which displaced workers might experience permanent drops in earnings after job loss. Research has shown that displaced workers who migrate out of their region of origin have lower earnings than those who do not. This paper extends the discussion on returns to migration by accounting for the type of jobs people get and how related they are to their skills. Using an endogenous treatment model to control for selection bias in migration and career change, we compare displaced stayers with displaced movers in Sweden. Results show that migrants who get a job that matches their occupation- and industry-specific skills display the highest earnings among all displaced workers. If migration is combined with a job mismatch, earning losses are instead observed. This group experiences the lowest earnings among all displaced workers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2021 a Pion publication) ((en))

Zitatform

Korenok, Oleg & David Munro (2021): Wage bargaining in a matching market: Experimental evidence. In: Labour Economics, Jg. 73. DOI:10.1016/j.labeco.2021.102078

Abstract

"Wage negotiation plays a central role in the dynamics of search and matching models. We explore the theoretical wage predictions of the canonical search and matching model of Diamond (1982) in laboratory bargaining experiments. Overall, wages in the experiment are less responsive to changes in the market conditions than theory predicts. Wages respond to changes in unemployment insurance in the correct direction, yet the size of the response is about half of what theory predicts. On the other hand, contrary to theory, wages are unresponsive to changes in the level of unemployment. We also find that wages of new matches are more sensitive than wages of on-going matches, and that the duration of unemployment influences wages in certain settings." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2022 Elsevier) ((en))

Zitatform

Lacava, Chiara (2021): Matching and sorting across regions. (ICIR working paper series 2021,44), Frankfurt am Main, 39 S.

Abstract

"I measure the effects of workers' mobility across regions of different productivity through the lens of a search and matching model with heterogeneous workers and firms estimated with administrative data. In an application to Italy, I find that reallocation of workers to the most productive region boosts productivity at the country level but amplifies differentials across regions. Employment rates decline as migrants foster job competition, and inequality between workers doubles in less productive areas since displacement is particularly severe for low-skill workers. Migration does affect mismatch: mobility favors co-location of agents with similar productivity but within-region rank correlation declines in the most productive region. I show that worker-firm complementarities in production account for 33% of the productivity gains. Place-based programs directed to firms, like incentives for hiring unemployed or creating high productivity jobs, raise employment rates and reduce the gaps in productivity across regions. In contrast, subsidies to attract high-skill workers in the South have limited effects." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Laschever, Ron A. & Russell Weinstein (2021): Preference Signaling and Worker-Firm Matching: Evidence from Interview Auctions. (IZA discussion paper 14622), Bonn, 56 S.

Abstract

"We study whether there are improvements in worker-firm matching when employers and applicants can credibly signal their interest in a match. Using a detailed résumé dataset of more than 400 applicants from one university over five years, we analyze a matching process in which firms fill some of their inter- view slots by invitation and the remainder are filled by an auction. Consistent with the predictions of a signaling model, we find the auction is valuable for less desirable firms trying to hire high desirability applicants. Second, we find evidence that is consistent with the auction benefiting overlooked applicants. Candidates who are less likely to be invited for an interview (e.g., non-U.S. citizens) are hired after having the opportunity to interview through the auction. Among hires, these candidates are more represented among auction winners than invited interviewees, and this difference is more pronounced at more desirable firms. Finally, counterfactual analysis shows the auction increases the number and quality of hires for less desirable firms, and total hires in the market." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Marinescu, Ioana & Daphne Skandalis (2021): Unemployment Insurance and Job Search Behavior. In: The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Jg. 136, H. 2, S. 887-931. DOI:10.1093/qje/qjaa037

Abstract

"How does unemployment insurance (UI) affect unemployed workers’ search behavior? Search models predict that until benefit exhaustion, UI depresses job search effort and increases reservation wages. Over an unemployment spell, search effort should increase up to benefit exhaustion and stay high thereafter. Meanwhile, reservation wages should decrease up to benefit exhaustion and stay low thereafter. To test these predictions, we link administrative registers to data on job search behavior from a major online job search platform in France. We follow over 400,000 workers, as long as they remain unemployed. We analyze the changes in search behavior around benefits exhaustion and take two steps to isolate the individual response to unemployment benefits. First, our longitudinal data allows us to correct for changes in sample composition over the spell. Second, we exploit data on workers eligible for 12–24 months of UI as well as workers ineligible for UI, to control for behavior changes over the unemployment spell that are independent of UI. Our results confirm the predictions of search models. We find that search effort (the number of job applications) increases by at least 50% during the year preceding benefits exhaustion and remains high thereafter. The target monthly wage decreases by at least 2.4% during the year preceding benefits exhaustion and remains low thereafter. In addition, we provide evidence for duration dependence: workers decrease the wage they target by 1.5% over each year of unemployment, irrespective of their UI status." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Michau, Jean-Baptiste (2021): On the provision of insurance against search-induced wage fluctuations. In: The Scandinavian journal of economics, Jg. 123, H. 1, S. 382-414. DOI:10.1111/sjoe.12401

Abstract

"Should workers be provided with insurance against search-induced wage fluctuations? To answer this question, I rely on numerical simulations of a model of on-the-job search and precautionary savings. The model is calibrated to low skilled workers in the U.S. The extent of insurance is determined by the degree of progressivity of a non-linear transfer schedule. The fundamental trade-off is that a more generous provision of insurance reduces incentives to search for better paying jobs, which increases the cost of providing insurance. I show that progressivity raises the search intensity of unemployed worker, which reduces the equilibrium rate of unemployment, but lowers the search intensity of employed job seekers, which reduces the output level. I also solve numerically for the optimal non-linear transfer schedule. The optimal policy is to provide little insurance up to a monthly income level of $1350, such as to preserve incentives to move up the wage ladder, and nearly full insurance above $1450. This policy reduces the standard deviation of labor income net of transfers by 34% and generates a consumption-equivalent welfare gain of 0.7%. The absence of private savings does not fundamentally change the shape of the optimal transfer function, but tilts the optimal policy towards more insurance, at the expense of a less efficient allocation of workers across jobs." (Author's abstract, Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons) ((en))

Zitatform

Rivera, Lauren A. & Jayanti Owens (2021): Glass Floors and Glass Ceilings: Sex Homophily and Heterophily in Job Interviews. In: Social forces, Jg. 99, H. 4, S. 1363-1393. DOI:10.1093/sf/soaa072

Abstract

"A widely assumed but little-tested theory of employment interviewing suggests that female job applicants will be evaluated more favorably when they are paired with female versus male interviewers. To capitalize on this hypothesized affinity, a number of organizations have begun explicitly pairing female job applicants with female interviewers, in hopes of increasing the representation of women among new hires. However, whether this practice actually results in more favorable outcomes for female job candidates remains an open empirical question. Using data on job interview evaluations from a large, professional service organization, we test the effect of matching female job candidates with female interviewers on interview scores. Highlighting the contextually dependent nature of sex homophily, we find that the effect of being matched with a female interviewer varies by the female candidate’s perceived skill level. Sex matches in job interviews work in favor of those female candidates perceived to be lowest in skill; have a small, statistically nonsignificant negative effect for female candidates of average perceived skill; and have a significant, negative effect for women at the highest level of perceived skill. We argue that matching female candidates with female evaluators in job interviews can operate both as a glass floor that can prevent female applicants from falling below a certain scoring threshold but also a glass ceiling that can prevent the most skilled female applicants from receiving the most favorable interview ratings." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Sheehan, Patrick (2021): Unemployment Experts: Governing the Job Search in the New Economy. In: Work and occupations, Jg. 48, H. 4, S. 470-497. DOI:10.1177/07308884211003652

Abstract

"In recent years, sociologists have examined unemployment and job searching as important arenas in which workers are socialized to accept the terms of an increasingly precarious economy. While noting the importance of expert knowledge in manufacturing the consent of workers, research has largely overlooked the experts themselves that produce such knowledge. Who are these experts and what kinds of advice do they give? Drawing on interviews and ethnographic fieldwork conducted at three job search clubs, the author develops a three-fold typology of “unemployment experts”: Job Coaches present a technical diagnosis that centers mastery of job-hunting techniques; Self-help Gurus present a moral diagnosis focused on the job seeker’s attitude; and Skill-certifiers present a human capital diagnosis revolving around the job seeker’s productive capacities. By offering alternative diagnoses and remedies for unemployment, these experts give job seekers a sense of choice in interpreting their situation and acting in the labor market. However, the multiple discourses ultimately help to secure consent to precarious labor markets by drawing attention to a range of individual deficiencies within workers while obfuscating structural and relational explanations of unemployment. The author also finds that many unemployment experts themselves faced dislocations from professional careers and are making creative claims to expertise. By focusing on experts and their varied messages, this paper reveals how the victims of precarious work inadvertently help to legitimate the new employment regime." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Watermann, Henriette, Ulrike Fasbender & Ute-Christine Klehe (2021): Predicting the self-regulated job search of mature-aged job seekers: The use of elective selection, loss-based selection, optimization, and compensation strategies. In: Journal of vocational behavior, Jg. 128. DOI:10.1016/j.jvb.2021.103591

Abstract

"Job search is a demanding and often demotivating process, challenging job-seekers' self-regulation. Particularly, mature-aged job seekers face lower reemployment chances – and may benefit from strategies known from the lifespan literature. The current study examined whether and when the use of aging strategies (elective selection, loss-based selection, optimization, and compensation; SOC strategies) can support mature-aged job seekers in their self-regulated job search process (goal establishment and goal pursuit). We collected data from 659 mature-aged job seekers in three countries (Germany, United Kingdom, and United States) at four different times over two months. Results of multi-level modeling showed no support for gain-oriented strategies, namely elective selection (prioritizing one instead of multiple goals) and optimization (investing every effort to reach one's goal). In contrast, loss-oriented strategies, namely loss-based selection (prioritizing or selecting a new goal after a setback) and compensation (using new or previously unused means in the face of obstacles), supported mature-aged job seekers' goal establishment and goal pursuit. Moreover, with increasing age, mature-aged job seekers reported lower reemployment efficacy (the confidence to find a new job), which moderated the relation between compensation with goal pursuit. Compensation was particularly helpful for mature-aged job seekers' goal pursuit in weeks in which they reported lower (vs. higher) reemployment efficacy. These findings highlight the importance of loss-oriented aging strategies as beneficial coping strategies. With regard to practice, the present study speaks to the benefits of SOC strategies and points to the development of interventions targeted toward mature-aged job seekers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2021 Elsevier) ((en))

Zitatform

Wozniak, Marcin (2021): Spatial matching on the urban labor market: estimates with unique micro data. In: Journal for labour market research, Jg. 55. DOI:10.1186/s12651-021-00293-1

Abstract

"In the paper, we investigate spatial relationship on the labor market of Poznań agglomeration (Poland) with unique data on job vacancies. We have developed spatial panel models to assess the search and matching process with a particular focus on spatial spillovers. In general, spatial models may provide different findings than regular panel models regarding returns to scale in matching technology. Moreover, we have identified global spillover effects as well as other factors that impact the job-worker matching. We underline the role of data on job vacancies: the data retrieved from commercial job portals produced much more reliable estimates than underestimated registered data." (Autorenreferat, © 2021 Springer Nature) ((en))

Zitatform

Ziegler, Lennart (2021): Skill Demand and Wages. Evidence from Linked Vacancy Data. (IZA discussion paper 14511), Bonn, 37 S.

Abstract

"This study provides new evidence on skill requirements in the labor market and shows to what extent skill demand is associated with wages and vacancy duration. Using more than 1.5 million job postings administered by the Austrian public employment service, I identify the most common skill requirements mentioned in job descriptions. Because employers in Austria are legally required to state the minimum remuneration for advertised positions, it is possible to relate the skill content of jobs to wage postings. Moreover, I estimate skill associations with starting wages for a subset of vacancies which can be matched to administrative data on employment spells of eventual hires. Accounting for education, work experience, and firm and occupation fixed-effects, there exists a robust association between the number of skill requirements and wages. In particular, jobs with many skill requirements pay substantially higher wages. While I estimate large effects for managerial and analytical skills, associations with most soft skills are small. Employers also need longer to fill vacancies with many skill requirements. Robustness tests show that measurement error is unlikely to explain these results and that the estimates can be replicated using vacancy postings from another job board." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Bhuller, Manudeep, Andreas R. Kostøl & Trond C. Vigtel (2020): How broadband internet affects labor market matching. (IZA discussion paper 12895), Bonn, 63 S.

Abstract

"How the internet affects job matching is not well understood due to a lack of data on job vacancies and quasi-experimental variation in internet use. This paper helps fill this gap using plausibly exogenous roll-out of broadband infrastructure in Norway, and comprehensive data on recruiters, vacancies and job seekers. We document that broadband expansions increased online vacancy-postings and lowered the average duration of a vacancy and the share of establishments with unfilled vacancies. These changes led to higher job-finding rates and starting wages and more stable employment relationships after an unemployment-spell. Consequently, our calculations suggest that the steady-state unemployment rate fell by as much as one-fifth." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Braun, Christine, Bryan Engelhardt, Benjamin Griffy & Peter Rupert (2020): Testing the independence of job arrival rates and wage offers. In: Labour Economics, Jg. 63. DOI:10.1016/j.labeco.2020.101804

Abstract

"Is the arrival rate of a job independent of the wage that it pays? We answer this question by testing whether unemployment insurance alters the job finding rate differentially across the wage distribution. To do this, we use a Mixed Proportional Hazard Competing Risk Model in which we classify quantiles of the wage distribution as competing risks faced by searching unemployed workers. Allowing for flexible unobserved heterogeneity across spells, we find that unemployment insurance increases the likelihood that a searcher matches to higher paying jobs relative to low or medium paying jobs, rejecting the notion that wage offers and job arrival rates are independent. We show that dependence between wages and job offer arrival rates explains 9% of the increase in the duration of unemployment associated with unemployment insurance." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2020 Elsevier) ((en))

Zitatform

Carranza, Eliana, Robert Garlick, Kate Orkin & Neil Rankin (2020): Job Search and Hiring with Two-sided Limited Information about Workseekers' Skills. (Upjohn Institute working paper 328), Kalamazoo, Mich., 70 S. DOI:10.17848/wp20-328

Abstract

"We present field experimental evidence that limited information about workseekers’ skills distorts both firm and workseeker behavior. Assessing workseekers’ skills, giving workseekers their assessment results, and helping them to credibly share the results with firms increases workseekers’ employment and earnings. It also aligns their beliefs and search strategies more closely with their skills. Giving assessment results only to workseekers has similar effects on beliefs and search, but smaller effects on employment and earnings. Giving assessment results only to firms increases callbacks. These patterns are consistent with two-sided information frictions, a new finding that can inform design of information-provision mechanisms." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Faberman, R. Jason (2020): Recruiting intensity. Recruiting intensity is critical for understanding fluctuations in the labor market. (IZA world of labor 21), Bonn, 10 S. DOI:10.15185/izawol.21.v2

Abstract

"Politikansätze zur Schaffung von Arbeitsplätzen, die sich nur darauf konzentrieren, wie oft Arbeitgeber einstellen, und dabei die Anpassungsprozesse der Unternehmen bei der Personalgewinnung ignorieren, drohen ihre Ziele zu verfehlen. Die Rekrutierungsintensität in den USA während und nach der Großen Rezession unterstreicht dies: Nach der Großen Rezession blieb die Rekrutierungsintensität trotz des Anstiegs der Zahloffener Stellen auf ein historisch hohes Niveau anhaltend niedrig. Dass sich Lohnwachstum und Einstellungsrate langsamer erholten, ist zum Teil auf diese geringe Rekrutierungsintensität zurückzuführen." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

Zitatform

Gertler, Mark, Christopher Huckfeldt & Antonella Trigari (2020): Unemployment Fluctuations, Match Quality, and the Wage Cyclicality of New Hires. In: The Review of Economic Studies, Jg. 87, H. 4, S. 1876-1914. DOI:10.1093/restud/rdaa004

Abstract

"We revisit the issue of the high cyclicality of wages of new hires. We show that after controlling for composition effects likely involving procyclical upgrading of job match quality, the wages of new hires are no more cyclical than those of existing workers. The key implication is that the sluggish behaviour of wages for existing workers is a better guide to the cyclicality of the marginal cost of labour than is the high measured cyclicality of new hires wages unadjusted for composition effects. Key to our identification is distinguishing between new hires from unemployment versus those who are job changers. We argue that to a reasonable approximation, the wages of the former provide a composition-free estimate of the wage flexibility, while the same is not true for the latter. We then develop a quantitative general equilibrium model with sticky wages via staggered contracting, on-the-job search, and heterogeneous match quality, and show that it can account for both the panel data evidence and aggregate evidence on labour market volatility." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Granberg, Mark, Niklas Ottosson & Ali Ahmed (2020): Do ethnicity and sex of employers affect applicants’ job interest? An experimental exploration. In: Journal for labour market research, Jg. 54, S. 1-15. DOI:10.1186/s12651-020-00281-x

Abstract

"Starting a business is one way out of unemployment for many people. Having a small pool of job applicants may, however, affect the quality of manpower available to employers. This paper reports the results of an experimental study that examined whether job-seekers discriminate against prospective employers based on those employers’ ethnicity and sex. We conducted an experiment with 889 university students, where we presented 10 hypothetical job vacancies in the restaurant sector to the participants. We then asked participants to state their willingness to apply to each job. The ethnicity and sex of the employers were conveyed through employers’ names by using typical male and female Arabic- and Swedish-sounding names. Overall, our results provided no evidence of ethnic or sex discrimination by job-seekers against employers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Hoffman, Mitchell & Stephen V. Burks (2020): Worker overconfidence: Field evidence and implications for employee turnover and firm profits. In: Quantitative Economics, Jg. 11, H. 1, S. 315-348. DOI:10.3982/QE834

Abstract

"Combining weekly productivity data with weekly productivity beliefs for a large sample of truckers over 2 years, we show that workers tend to systematically and persistently overpredict their productivity. If workers are overconfident about their own productivity at the current firm relative to their outside option, they should be less likely to quit. Empirically, all else equal, having higher productivity beliefs is associated with an employee being less likely to quit. To study the implications of overconfidence for worker welfare and firm profits, we estimate a structural learning model with biased beliefs that accounts for many key features of the data. While worker overconfidence moderately decreases worker welfare, it also substantially increases firm profits." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Kiarsi, Mehrab (2020): The Fundamental Surplus or the Fundamentality of Vacancy Posting Costs? In: Economics Bulletin, Jg. 40, H. 2, S. 1011-1016.

Abstract

"In a recent influential paper, Ljungqvist and Sargent (2017) suggest that beneath the large responses of unemployment to movements in productivity in the various proposed reconfigurations of the standard Mortensen and Pissarides model is simply the small size of the fundamental surplus fraction. I show that the fundamental surplus fraction is small if and only if the per-vacancy posting cost is small." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Martellini, Paolo & Guido Menzio (2020): Declining Search Frictions, Unemployment and Growth. In: Journal of Political Economy, Jg. 128, H. 12, S. 4387-4437. DOI:10.1086/710975

Abstract

"For a search-theoretic model of the labor market, we seek conditions for the existence of a Balanced Growth Path (BGP), an equilibrium in which unemployment, vacancy, and worker's transition rates remain constant in the face of improvements in the production and search technologies. A BGP exists iff firm-worker matches are inspection goods, and the idiosyncratic component of productivity of a match is drawn from a Pareto distribution. Declining search frictions contribute to the growth of the economy with an intensity that depends on the tail coeffcient of the Pareto distribution. A corollary of the theory is that market size does not affect unemployment, vacancy and worker's transition rates even with non-constant returns to scale in search. We develop a strategy to measure the rate of decline of search frictions, the returns to scale in search, and their contribution to growth." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Martin, Ludivine (2020): How to retain motivated employees in their jobs? In: Economic and Industrial Democracy, Jg. 41, H. 4, S. 910-953. DOI:10.1177/0143831X17741528

Abstract

"This article examines the contribution of human resource management (HRM) and information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the retention of motivated employees. The author uses a representative random sample of private sector employees from Western Europe. The data set contains information on employees' motivations, on-the-job search and workplace environment. The results show that HRM and ICT bundles are positively related to motivations. Being motivated for intrinsic and personal growth reasons decreases the likelihood to search while being motivated for rewards or compulsion reasons increases it. HRM strengthens the likelihood to search in the same way, while ICTs tend to increase the likelihood to search of all employees." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Modestino, Alicia Sasser, Daniel Shoag & Joshua Ballance (2020): Upskilling: Do Employers Demand Greater Skill When Workers Are Plentiful? In: The Review of Economics and Statistics, Jg. 102, H. 4, S. 793-805. DOI:10.1162/rest_a_00835

Abstract

"Using a proprietary database of online job postings, we find that education and experience requirements rose during the Great Recession. These increases were larger in states and occupations that experienced greater increases in the supply of available workers. This finding is robust to controlling for local demand conditions and firm x job-title fixed effects and using a natural experiment arising from troop withdrawals as an exogenous shock to labor supply. Our results imply that the increase in unemployed workers during the Great Recession can account for 18% to 25% of the increase in skill requirements between 2007 and 2010." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © MIT Press Journals) ((en))

Zitatform

Taber, Christopher & Rune Vejlin (2020): Estimation of a Roy/search/compensating differential model of the labor market. In: Econometrica, Jg. 88, H. 3, S. 1031-1069. DOI:10.3982/ECTA14441

Abstract

"In this paper, we develop a model that captures key components of the Roy model, a search model, compensating differentials, and human capital accumulation on-the-job. We establish which components of the model can be non-parametrically identified and which ones cannot. We estimate the model and use it to assess the relative contribution of the different factors for overall wage inequality. We find that variation in premarket skills (the key feature of the Roy model) is the most important component to account for the majority of wage variation. We also demonstrate that there is substantial interaction between the other components, most notably, that the importance of the job match obtained by search frictions varies from around 4% to around 29%, depending on how we account for other components. Inequality due to preferences for non-pecuniary aspects of the job (which leads to compensating differentials) and search are both very important for explaining other features of the data. Search is important for turnover, but so are preferences for non-pecuniary aspects of jobs as one-third of all choices between two jobs would have resulted in a different outcome if the worker only cared about wages." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Aepli, Manuel (2019): Technological change and occupation mobility: A task-based approach to horizontal mismatch. (GLO discussion paper / Global Labor Organization 361), Maastricht, 48 S.

Abstract

"Technological change and its impacts on labour markets are a much-discussed topic in economics. Economists generally assume that new technology penetrating the labour market shifts firms' task demand. Given individuals' acquired and supplied skills, these task demand shifts potentially foster horizontal skill mismatches, e.g. individuals not working in their learned occupations. In this paper, I first analyse the relation between task shifting technological change and individuals' horizontal mismatch incidence. Second, I estimate individuals' mismatch wage penalties triggered by this relation. The present paper proposes an instrumental variable (IV) approach to map this mechanism and to obtain causal estimates on mismatch wage penalties. Applying this empirical strategy yields a wage penalty of roughly 12% for horizontally mismatched individuals." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Auer, Manfred, Gabriela Edlinger, Tanja Petry & Judith Pfliegensdörfer (2019): The role of affective states in potential applicants' evaluations of employer attractiveness. In: German journal of human resource management, Jg. 33, H. 4, S. 363-386. DOI:10.1177/2397002219854959

Abstract

"What role do emotions play as a job seeker eyes up a potential employer? Our contribution to research into employer attractiveness explores the role that affective states play in potential applicants' subjective perceptions of companies' employer attractiveness in the early phase of job seeking. We adopt a concurrent verbalization approach to inquire into qualified potential applicants' processes of interpreting employer branding material. Based on these data, we provide insights into the neglected role of emotions in research on potential applicants' assessments of the appeal of an organization. The findings from a multistep qualitative data analysis produce the following four propositions: (1) strong emotions influence the outcome of the opinion-making process; (2) negative emotions play a crucial role in potential applicants' evaluations of employer attractiveness; (3) some contents of employer information elicit negative emotions, whereas their complementary counterparts do not elicit positive affective reactions; and (4) expectations towards an employer and comparisons among employers influence potential applicants' sentiments about individual employers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Banfi, Stefano & Benjamín Villena-Roldán (2019): Do high-wage jobs attract more applicants? Directed search evidence from the online labor market. In: Journal of labor economics, Jg. 37, H. 3, S. 715-746. DOI:10.1086/702627

Abstract

"Labor markets become more efficient in theory if job seekers direct their search. Using online job board data, we show that high-wage ads attract more applicants as in directed search models. Due to distinctive data features, we also estimate significant but milder directed search for hidden (or implicit) wages, suggesting that ad texts and requirements tacitly convey wage information. Since explicit-wage ads often target unskilled workers, other estimates in the literature ignoring hidden-wage ads may suffer from selection bias. Moreover, job ad requirements are aligned with their applicants' traits, as predicted in directed search models with heterogeneity." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Barr, Tavis, Raicho Bojilov & Lalith Munasinghe (2019): Referrals and search efficiency: Who learns what and when? In: Journal of labor economics, Jg. 37, H. 4, S. 1267-1300. DOI:10.1086/703163

Abstract

"Referrals can improve screening and self-selection of applicants during the hiring process. We model and estimate how referral information affects the selection of employees through job offers, acceptances, and turnover. Using data from a call center company, we show that referrals help employers attract applicants of superior performance. Yet performance differences between referred and nonreferred workers diminish with tenure through selective turnover. Our estimates reveal that referrals allow employers to screen on hard-to-observe but performance-relevant attributes for employees of high performance and high propensity to stay. Thus, referred applicants complete much of the sorting during the hiring process." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Berg, Gerard J. van den & Bas van der Klaauw (2019): Structural empirical evaluation of job search monitoring. In: International Economic Review, Jg. 60, H. 2, S. 879-903. DOI:10.1111/iere.12376

Abstract

"To evaluate search effort monitoring of unemployed workers, it is important to take account of post-unemployment wages and job-to-job mobility. We structurally estimate a model with search channels, using an RCT in which monitoring is randomized. The data include registers and survey data on search behavior. We find that the opportunity to move to better-paid jobs in employment reduces the extent to which monitoring induces substitution towards formal search channels in unemployment. Job mobility compensates for adverse long-run effects of monitoring on wages. We examine counterfactual policies against moral hazard, like reemployment bonuses and changes of the benefits path." (Author's abstract, Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons) ((en))

Zitatform

Brunello, Giorgio & Patricia Wruuck (2019): Skill shortages and skill mismatch in Europe. A review of the literature. (IZA discussion paper 12346), Bonn, 34 S.

Abstract

"Labour markets are currently in a phase of cyclical recovery and undergoing structural transformation due to globalisation, demographic trends, advancing digital technologies and automation and changes in labour market institutions. Against this background, businesses increasingly report that the limited availability of skills poses an impediment to corporate investment. Genuine skill constraints can negatively affect labour productivity and hamper the ability to innovate and adopt technological developments. For individual Europeans, not having 'the right skills' limits employability prospects and access to quality jobs. For Europe at large, persistent skill gaps and mismatches come at economic and social costs. This paper reviews the recent economic literature on skill mismatch and skill shortages with a focus on Europe a focus on Europe." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Eckstein, Zvi, Ofer Setty & David Weiss (2019): Financial risk and unemployment. In: International Economic Review, Jg. 60, H. 2, S. 475-516. DOI:10.1111/iere.12360

Abstract

"There is a strong correlation between corporate interest rates, their spreads relative to Treasuries, and the unemployment rate. We model how corporate interest rates affect equilibrium unemployment and vacancies, in a Diamond - Mortesen - Pissarides search and matching model. Our simple model permits the exploration of U.S. business cycle statistics through the lens of financial shocks. We calibrate the model using U.S. data without targeting business cycle statistics. Volatility in the corporate interest rate can explain a quantitatively meaningful portion of the labor market. Data on corporate firms support the hypothesis that firms facing more volatile financial conditions have more volatile employment." (Author's abstract, Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons) ((en))

Zitatform

Ellington, Michael, Chris Martin & Bingsong Wang (2019): Search frictions and evolving labour market dynamics. (Warwick economic research paper 1195), Coventry, 22 S.

Abstract

"This paper puts search frictions models under novel empirical scrutiny and tests their ability to match empirical observations. To capture changing dynamics we fit an extended Bayesian time-varying parameter VAR to US labour market data from 1962-2016. We find strong evidence against key predictions of the search frictions model, namely a large surge in vacancy creation in response to productivity shocks and a negative relationship between the volatilities of unemployment and wages. Our results question the amplification mechanism embedded in search frictions models and cast doubt on wage rigidity as a source of unemployment volatility." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Faberman, R. Jason & Marianna Kudlyak (2019): The intensity of job search and search duration. In: American Economic Journal. Macroeconomics, Jg. 11, H. 3, S. 327-357. DOI:10.1257/mac.20170315

Abstract

"We use online job application data to study the relationship between search intensity and search duration. The data allow us to control for job seeker composition and the evolution of available job openings over the duration of search. We find that, within an individual search spell, search intensity declines continuously. We also find that longer-duration job seekers search more intensely throughout their search. They tend to be older, male, nonemployed, and live in areas with weaker labor markets. Our findings contradict standard assumptions of labor search models. We discuss how to reconcile the theory with our evidence." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Gottfries, Nils & Karolina Stadin (2019): The Beveridge curve and labour market flows - a reinterpretation. (CESifo working paper 7689), München, 52 S.

Abstract

"According to search-matching theory, the Beveridge curve slopes downward because vacancies are filled more quickly when unemployment is high. Using monthly panel data for local labour markets in Sweden we find no (or only weak) evidence that high unemployment makes it easier to fill vacancies. Instead, there are few vacancies when unemployment is high because there is a low inflow of new vacancies. We construct a simple model with on-the-job search and show that it is broadly consistent with the cyclical behaviour of stocks and flows in the labour market also without search frictions. In periods of high unemployment, fewer employed job seekers find new jobs and this leads to a smaller inflow of new vacancies." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Haeringer, Guillaume & Vincent Iehlé (2019): Two-sided matching with (almost) one-sided preferences. In: American Economic Journal. Microeconomics, Jg. 11, H. 3, S. 155-190. DOI:10.1257/mic.20170115

Abstract

"In a two-sided matching context we show how we can predict stable matchings by considering only one side's preferences and the mutually acceptable pairs of agents. Our methodology consists of identifying impossible matches, i.e., pairs of agents that can never be matched together in a stable matching of any problem consistent with the partial data. We analyze data from the French academic job market for mathematicians and show that the match of about 45 percent of positions (and about 60 percent of candidates) does not depend on the preferences of the hired candidates, unobserved and submitted at the final stage of the market." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Hassler, Benedikt, Lea Widmer, Thomas Geisen, Nathalie Amstutz, Nico Scheidegger & Nadine Wenger (2019): Arbeitsplätze ohne formale Qualifikationsanforderungen in der Schweiz. Rekrutierungsstrategien von Unternehmen und deren sozialpolitische Bedeutung. In: Zeitschrift für Sozialreform, Jg. 65, H. 2, S. 147-174. DOI:10.1515/zsr-2019-0006

Abstract

"Aktuelle politische und wissenschaftliche Debatten zum Schweizer Arbeitsmarkt fokussieren insbesondere auf den sogenannten Fachkräftemangel. Aufgrund dieser Fokussierung fehlt bislang weitgehend Wissen dazu, wie für Arbeitsplätze ohne formale Qualifikationsanforderungen in der Schweiz Arbeitskräfte rekrutiert werden. Basierend auf einer qualitativen Studie geht der vorliegende Artikel dieser Frage nach. Die Resultate des Artikels zeigen, dass Sprachfähigkeiten, körperliche Konstitution, Leistungsbereitschaft und Identifikation mit dem Unternehmen eine bedeutende Rolle im Rahmen der Rekrutierung spielen. Diese Anforderungskriterien lassen sich allerdings nur schwer anhand von Bewerbungsunterlagen oder in Vorstellungsgesprächen feststellen. Vor diesem Hintergrund gewinnen messbare Selektionskriterien wie Alter, Geschlecht, Herkunft und Berufsabschlüsse an Relevanz. Außerdem setzen Betriebe im Rahmen der Rekrutierung auf Probearbeitstage und andere 'Tests' oder rekrutieren vornehmlich über den (erweiterten) internen Arbeitsmarkt. Dies sind zentrale Erkenntnisse für die Unterstützung von erwerbsarbeitslosen Menschen im Rahmen der sozialstaatlichen Arbeitsintegration." (Autorenreferat, © De Gruyter)