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Baktash, Mehrzad B. (2026): Overeducation, performance pay and wages: evidence from Germany. In: Education Economics, Jg. 34, H. 4, S. 529-549. DOI:10.1080/09645292.2025.2546445

Abstract

"Overeducated workers are more productive and have higher wages in comparison to their adequately educated coworkers in the same jobs. However, they have lower wages than their similarly educated peers who are in correctly matched jobs. This study examines the hypotheses that overeducated workers sort into performance pay jobs as an adjustment mechanism and that performance pay enhances their wages. Using the SOEP, I show that overeducation associates with a higher likelihood of sorting into performance pay jobs and that performance pay significantly improves the wages of overeducated workers. The findings hold in endogenous switching regressions and several robustness checks." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Bauer, Anja & Enzo Weber (2026): Decomposing Variations in Labor Market Mismatch. (IAB-Discussion Paper 03/2026), Nürnberg, 19 S. DOI:10.48720/IAB.DP.2603

Abstract

"Dieses Diskussionspapier zeigt, wie Veränderungen des Arbeitsmarkt-Mismatch auf die Komponenten Arbeitslosigkeit, offene Stellen und Matchingeffizienz zurückgeführt werden können. Wir stellen fest, dass die Arbeitslosigkeit der wichtigste Faktor ist und auch die zyklischen Schwankungen bestimmt, während die Beiträge der offenen Stellen geringer und antizyklisch sind. Wir unterscheiden nach der Ursache der Arbeitslosigkeit und zeigen, dass Ströme gegenüber der Beschäftigung den Mismatch verstärken, während dies für Nichtbeschäftigung und Ausbildung / Weiterbildung nicht der Fall ist." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

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Birinci, Serdar, Fatih Karahan, Yusuf Mercan & Kurt See (2026): Labor Market Shocks and Monetary Policy. In: Journal of monetary economics, Jg. 159. DOI:10.1016/j.jmoneco.2026.103928

Abstract

"We develop a heterogeneous-agent New Keynesian model with a frictional labor market and on-the-job search to study how employer-to-employer (EE) transitions affect macroeconomic outcomes and monetary policy. We show that accounting for market incompleteness quantitatively alters the positive and normative implications of EE fluctuations. Under imperfect self-insurance, when a higher EE rate causes higher inflation and a higher real interest rate, wealthy individuals — who are more sensitive to interest rate changes — cut consumption by more. As a result, an economy with perfect self-insurance overestimates the decline in aggregate demand when the EE rate is higher. The optimal simple monetary policy rule responds to inflationary pressures from a higher EE rate by raising the nominal rate less aggressively when markets are complete relative to a model with imperfect self-insurance." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, Published by Elsevier B.V.) ((en))

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Bischof, Stephan & Rolf van der Velden (2026): Wage effects of skill mismatches across domains: the importance of ICT skills. In: Oxford economic papers, Jg. 78, H. 2, S. 388-409. DOI:10.1093/oep/gpag001

Abstract

"To date, it is unclear in which skills mismatches are most relevant for individuals’ wages, and whether surpluses or deficits in one domain can offset those in another. This study addresses these gaps by examining how mismatches in five key skill domains (ICT, reading, mathematics, science, and reasoning) are linked to individuals’ wages. Utilizing data from the 2016 wave of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) Adult Cohort, our findings reveal that skill deficits consistently result in lower wages, whereas surpluses do not pay off in each domain. Notably, mismatches in ICT skills are most significant for individuals’ wages: ICT deficits not only reduce wages, but can also negate wage benefits from surpluses in other skills. Conversely, ICT surpluses can compensate for wage penalties associated with deficits in other domains. These findings underscore the importance of digital skills for productivity and wage potential in the modern labour market." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Drasch, Katrin & Gerhard Krug (2026): Finding a job through social networks: monetary and nonmonetary returns for employed and unemployed job seekers. In: European Societies, S. 1-28. DOI:10.1162/euso.a.106

Abstract

"This study examines the impact of job vacancy information obtained through personal contacts on monetary and nonmonetary job search outcomes. We hypothesise that the effects will be positive for both kinds of outcome, and that these effects may depend on employment status prior to finding a new job. Additionally, we hypothesise that information from professional personal contacts will lead to better job search outcomes than information from private personal contacts. We use panel data from the German Panel Study “Labour Market and Social Security” (PASS) and fixed effects regressions to test these hypotheses. Monetary outcomes are measured by wages and nonmonetary outcomes by job satisfaction. Overall, we find that the employed tend to benefit more than the unemployed. However, the specific pattern differs depending on whether vacancy information stems from personal or professional contacts and on the type of outcome (monetary or nonmonetary)." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Galos, Diana Roxana & Joris Frese (2026): Online social class cues and employability: Experimental evidence from Germany. In: Social science research, Jg. 133. DOI:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2025.103258

Abstract

"Social media platforms, such as Twitter or Instagram, offer easily accessible information – relevant or not – for employers when evaluating candidates for a position. In particular, they tend to be sources of information about individuals’ interests and leisure activities.Because interests are highly stratified by social class (e.g., engagement in highbrow and lowbrow activities), this represents a new way for class to potentially manifest itself in the hiring process. To study discrimination in hiring based on online social class cues, we conducted a pre-registered survey experiment in Germany with samples of employers and non-employers, manipulating job applicants’ class cues on social media(highbrow versus lowbrow). Overall, we found no difference in preferences for the candidates displaying highbrow and lowbrow activities on their social media profiles. However, this masks important differences in the specific activities proxying for class. When these activities have no relevance for the jobs in question, higher-class candidates are preferred. Exploratory analyses show that respondents are more likely to express positive sentiments toward the higher-class profiles, with highbrow activities being positively associated with work-related traits. Our findings highlight the need to consider how digital environments and, more specifically, online social class cues, may contribute to class bias in hiring." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.) ((en))

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Goller, Daniel, Enzo Brox & Stefan C. Wolter (2026): Imperfect Self-knowledge about Skills and Skill Mismatch. (Working paper / Swiss Leading House 253), Zürich, 40 S., App.

Abstract

"Why do young people sort into poorly fitting occupations? This paper shows that imperfect self-knowledge about skills is an important source of skill mismatch at labor market entry. We use unique data from standardized professional aptitude tests linked to administrative records on educational trajectories and early labor market outcomes in Switzerland. The data allow us to observe objective skills and subjective skill beliefs for many productivity-relevant skills in a high-stakes setting. We document large differences among individuals in how well their beliefs align with their skills. Imperfect self-knowledge predicts misaligned occupational aspirations, higher realized skill mismatch, and a higher probability of dropout. Guided by a Roy-style model of occupational choice with imperfect self-knowledge, we interpret these findings as evidence that distorted self-assessments at the school-to-work transition contribute to the misallocation of talent." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Gottfries, Axel (2026): Bargaining with Renegotiation in Models with On-the-Job Search. In: Review of Economic Dynamics, Jg. 61. DOI:10.1016/j.red.2026.101343

Abstract

"I present an on-the-job search model with bargaining and renegotiation in which turnover depends on the contracted wage. There is a unique monotone Markov equilibrium. The model encompasses elements of dynamic monopsony and rent sharing. Firms benefit from the reduced turnover associated with a higher wage and workers extract rents due to their bargaining power. Shorter wage contracts reduce the response of turnover to the contracted wage, reducing a firm’s willingness to increase pay, and thereby the worker’s equilibrium share of the match surplus. As renegotiation becomes continuous, linear surplus sharing is obtained. The model further generates spillover effects from minimum wages due to firms’ incentives to increase contracted wages to reduce turnover. These incentives, and therefore the spillovers, are weaker when wage contracts are shorter. Finally, I endogenize the frequency of renegotiation, and find that, generically, the equilibrium features infrequently renegotiated wages." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2026 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc.) ((en))

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Hartl, Tobias, Christian Hutter & Enzo Weber (2026): Matching for three: The search activities of workers, firms, and employment services. In: Economic Modelling, Jg. 155, 2025-12-08. DOI:10.1016/j.econmod.2025.107434

Abstract

"The standard labour market matching function neglects a substantial variation of hirings. A crucial driver of this latent part is the search intensity of job seekers and firms, as well as the placement intensity of employment agencies. However, there is still a lack of integration of all three search and placement intensities into a unified theoretical framework. Their combined labour market effects have not been estimated so far. We feed all three intensities into the theoretical framework of a labour market matching function to estimate their impact on the job finding rate – effects which are not settled a priori. This could provide important stylised facts for subsequent theory building. For measuring the search and placement intensities, we use big data on online activity obtained from the job exchange of the German Federal Employment Agency and from its internal placement-software. The results show that all three intensities significantly contribute to the variation in job findings beyond vacancies and unemployment. During the COVID-19 crisis, reduced search intensities accounted for 44 percent of lost hirings and 16 percent of the labour market related increase in unemployment." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2025 Elsevier) ((en))

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Hennrich, Jonas & Daria Schaller (2026): Berufseinsteiger*innen im Fokus: Unternehmen setzen auf Soft Skills und Künstliche Intelligenz. In: Ifo-Schnelldienst, Jg. 79, H. 01, S. 77-84.

Abstract

"Das ifo Institut befragt in Zusammenarbeit mit Randstad Deutschland quartalsweise deutsche HR-Abteilungen zu personalpolitisch relevanten Themen. Neben wiederkehrenden Standardfragen standen im vierten Quartal Berufseinsteiger*innen und die Bedeutung von Berufserfahrung im Fokus. Etwa ein Drittel der Unternehmen sieht Berufserfahrung inzwischen als stärkeres Einstellungskriterium, während die Mehrheit keinen Bedeutungszuwachs beobachtet. Bei Einsteiger*innen zählen vor allem Kommunikations- und Teamfähigkeit, gefolgt von Selbstorganisation und Verantwortungsbewusstsein. Außerdem gewinnt Künstliche Intelligenz (KI) an Bedeutung: Viele Unternehmen planen, KI bei typischen Einsteigeraufgaben einzusetzen, einen großflächigen Ersatz von Mitarbeitenden erwarten jedoch nur wenige. Die meisten Betriebe planen, die Zahl der Einstiegsstellen stabil zu halten." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

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Jungbauer, Thomas (2026): Strategic Wage Posting, Market Power, and Mismatch. In: Journal of labor economics, Jg. 44, H. 2, S. 481-514. DOI:10.1086/733046

Abstract

"This paper analyzes the effects of firms posting multiple but varying number of vacancies, hence differing in their market power, in professional labor markets. I find that strategic wage Posting does, in general, not result in an efficient assignment of workers to firms. This is because firms with a larger number of vacancies pay on average lower wages than their competitors due to alack of within-firm rivalry. If highly productive firms hire more, the resulting welfare loss dueto mismatch may be substantial. Moreover, I provide a potential explanation why firms postuniform wages, missing out on more-skilled workers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Loewy, Michael B. (2026): Teaching two-sided labor search theory to undergraduates: A model and some exercises. In: The journal of economic education, Jg. 57, H. 1, S. 27-38. DOI:10.1080/00220485.2025.2549718

Abstract

"Although the Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides (DMP) model originated roughly 40 years ago and its authors shared the 2010 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, their work is still absent from several recent editions of popular intermediate macroeconomics textbooks. In contrast, Stephen Williamson's textbook (2014, 2018) presents an early static version of the DMP model accessible to undergraduates. This article's author compensates for the topic's omission in some intermediate-level textbooks by discussing Williamson's static DMP model and presenting four additional exercises not covered in his main text: (1) a change in a vacancy's posting price; (2) an increase in workers' relative bargaining power; (3) the introduction of a minimum wage; and (4) the introduction of an endogenous unemployment insurance benefit. The latter exercise yields an interesting neutrality result." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Vonk, Laura & Kobe De Keere (2026): Legitimizing Beauty in Hiring: An Analysis of Cultural Repertoires in Defense of Appearances as Selection Criteria. In: Work and occupations, Jg. 53, H. 2, S. 545-575. DOI:10.1177/07308884251362257

Abstract

"This article builds upon the body of literature confirming that aesthetics matter for finding work by investigating how gatekeepers reflect on the relevance of appearances in their evaluations of job candidates. Starting from the notion that in hiring the relevance of appearance conflicts with ideals of meritocracy and fairness, we seek to understand how gatekeepers solve this dispute and how they morally legitimize the importance of aesthetics. The analyses are based on in-depth interviews with 40 employee gatekeepers from the cultural (n = 17) and corporate (n = 23) sector, and show that although the gatekeepers problematize the importance of beauty, they do acknowledge that it plays a role in their evaluations. Three cultural repertoires for solving this contradiction and for legitimizing appearances as a hiring criterion are discerned from the data: (1) beauty as a business case; (2) appearances express personality; (3) looking right is a matter of effort. What the gatekeepers try to do is to come to a hiring decision using evaluation criteria that can be considered contextually legitimate. Yet, this can lead to applying evaluation criteria and, more structurally, labor market outcomes that they find morally problematic. This study highlights the relevance of cultural repertoires in processes of legitimation for understanding reproductions of inequalities related to appearances." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Benanav, Aaron (2025): When an Accountant Becomes a Taxi Driver: Unemployment, Labor Market Institutions, and Economic Theory. In: History of political economy, Jg. 57, H. S1, S. 81-110. DOI:10.1215/00182702-12134470

Abstract

"This article reconstructs the history of how economists came to understand unemployment as a distinct category and how that understanding transformed over time. In the early twentieth century, governments regulated access to unemployment benefits and established labor market protections, drawing sharper boundaries between employment and unemployment. Historians have shown that these boundaries were politically constructed, but economic theory largely treated them as given. Postwar Keynesian models assumed that unemployment was a temporary and measurable condition between spells of stable, high-wage work. However, that assumption rested on a historically specific labor market structure that began to unravel in the 1970s and 1980s. As stable jobs contracted, more workers cycled through precarious employment rather than remaining fully unemployed or finding new stable work. Economic theory responded with new models focused on individual incentives and firm behavior, but these also tended to treat emerging patterns as evidence of how unemployment had always functioned, rather than as signs of a shifting institutional landscape. By tracing how the category of unemployment was constructed and transformed—and how economists responded to those shifts—this article shows how changes in institutional context shape the development of economic thought itself." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Birinci, Serdar, Kurt See & Shu Lin Wee (2025): Job Applications and Labor Market Flows. In: The Review of Economic Studies, Jg. 92, H. 3, S. 1438-1496. DOI:10.1093/restud/rdae064

Abstract

"Job applications have risen over time, yet job-finding rates remain unchanged. Meanwhile, separations have declined. We argue that increased applications raise the probability of a good match rather than the probability of job-finding. Using a search model with multiple applications and costly information, we show that when applications increase, firms invest in identifying good matches, reducing separations. Concurrently, increased congestion and selectivity over which offer to accept temper increases in job-finding rates. Our framework contains testable implications for changes in offers, acceptances, reservation wages, applicants per vacancy, and tenure, objects that enable it to generate the trends in unemployment flows." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Bryson, Alex & Harald Dale-Olsen (2025): Job search under changing labour taxes. In: Labour Economics, Jg. 95. DOI:10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102750

Abstract

"Workers’ job mobility decisions are related to firms’ wage policies but also depend on tax schedules. Using Norwegian population-wide administrative linked employer-employee data for 2010–2019, we study how the job-to-job turnover of employees is affected by marginal taxes and firms’ pay policies, thus drawing inferences on job search behaviour. By paying higher wages, job-to-job separation rates drop, but this negative relationship is weakened when income taxes increase, consistent with higher taxes reducing search activity. However, consistent with theory, the tax effect is smaller where workers receive performance bonuses." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.) ((en))

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Börschlein, Erik-Benjamin (2025): Essays on Wages and Minimum Wages in Frictional Labor Markets. 237 S. DOI:10.5283/epub.76880

Abstract

"In Deutschland ist das Zusammenspiel zwischen Löhnen und institutionellen sowie marktbedingten Friktionen ein zentrales Thema wirtschaftspolitischer Debatten. Diese Dissertation untersucht in drei empirischen Studien kausale Zusammenhänge zwischen Löhnen und Mindestlöhnen, Matchingfriktionen und Arbeitsmarktanspannung. Die Analysen basieren auf umfangreichen administrativen Daten der Bundesagentur für Arbeit und nutzen fortgeschrittene ökonometrische Methoden zur kausalen Inferenz. Die ersten beiden Kapitel betrachten institutionelle Effekte – insbesondere die Einführung des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns im Jahr 2015 – während das dritte Kapitel den Fokus auf veränderte Marktbedingungen legt, insbesondere den zunehmenden Fachkräftemangel. Ziel ist es, die Wirkungsmechanismen zwischen Löhnen und Arbeitsmarktfriktionen differenziert darzustellen. Kapitel 1 Dieses Kapitel entwickelt einen innovativen Machine-Learning-Ansatz zur verbesserten Schätzung langfristiger Lohneffekte des Mindestlohns. Übliche Studien basieren auf einem fixen Pre-Treatment-Indikator („Bite“), basierend auf Löhnen vor der Politikmaßnahme, der die Betroffenheit von der Mindestlohneinführung nur kurzfristig akkurat abbildet. Um langfristige dynamische Veränderungen zu erfassen, werden hier ein zeitvariable Bite-Indikatoren mittels LASSO-basierter Vorhersagemodelle konstruiert, welche die Inzidenz und die Intensität der Mindestlohnbetroffenheit abbilden. Basierend auf administrativen Daten der Jahre 2010–2014 wird die Mindestlohnbetroffenheit für den Zeitraum 2015–2020 vorhergesagt. In der anschließenden Differenz-von-Differenzen-Analyse zeigen sich signifikant positive Lohneffekte, die im Vergleich zu herkömmlichen Methoden jedoch geringer ausfallen und über die Zeit konstant bleiben. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass traditionelle Evaluierungen die Effekte überschätzen könnten, da sie dynamische Selektionseffekte und mindestlohnunabhängige Lohnentwicklungen nicht ausreichend berücksichtigen. Kapitel 2 In diesem Kapitel wird untersucht, wie sich die Einführung des Mindestlohns auf offene Stellen und damit verbundene Friktionen im Matching-Prozess ausgewirkt hat. Die Analyse basiert auf administrativen Vakanzdaten und Erwerbsbiographien. Die Analyse erfolgt auf der Berufsebenen für den Zeitraum 2013–2019 und nutzt ein Differenz-von-Differenzen-Design. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Anzahl neu gemeldeter Stellen durch die Mindestlohneinführung insgesamt nicht zurückging. Jedoch stieg der Anteil stornierter Vakanzen um 4–9 Prozent, und die Dauer erfolgreicher Besetzungsprozesse erhöhte sich um 5–6 Prozent. Dies deutet auf verstärkte Such- und Matchingfriktionen hin, etwa durch höhere Einstellungsstandards oder reduzierte berufliche Mobilität. Ergänzende Analysen zeigen geringere Übergänge zwischen Arbeitgebern, insbesondere bei Berufswechseln. Somit wird deutlich, dass die Mindestlohneinführung zwar nur geringe Auswirkungen auf die Beschäftigung hatte, aber dennoch Matchingprozesse erheblich beeinflusst hat. Kapitel 3 Dieses Kapitel wechselt die Perspektive und untersucht, wie zunehmende Arbeitsmarktanspannung – gemessen als Verhältnis von offenen Stellen zu Arbeitssuchenden – die Lohnentwicklung beeinflusst hat. Mithilfe eines Leave-One-Out-Instruments wird der kausale Effekt lokaler Arbeitsmarktanspannung in beruflichen Arbeitsmärkten auf Löhne geschätzt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen moderate, aber signifikant positive Lohneffekte, die etwa 7–19 Prozent des realen Lohnwachstums in Deutschland zwischen 2012 und 2022 erklären. Besonders stark profitieren neu Eingestellte, Hochqualifizierte, Beschäftigte im Dienstleistungssektor und Arbeitnehmer in Ostdeutschland. Zudem steigt der Lohn in Niedriglohnunternehmen überdurchschnittlich stark, was auf eine Verringerung der Lohnungleichheit hindeutet. Im Gesamtfazit werden die Erkenntnisse der drei Studien zusammengeführt. Die Arbeit zeigt, wie institutionelle Eingriffe wie der Mindestlohn einerseits Löhne anheben, gleichzeitig aber neue Friktionen erzeugen können. Andererseits können veränderte Marktbedingungen auch ohne staatliche Eingriffe Löhne steigern – wie etwa bei hoher Arbeitsmarktanspannung. Methodisch hebt die Dissertation die Bedeutung administrativer Mikrodaten und robuster kausaler Analyseverfahren in der Arbeitsmarktforschung hervor." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

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Cai, Xiaoming, Pieter Gautier & Ronald Wolthoff (2025): Search, Screening, and Sorting. In: American Economic Journal. Macroeconomics, Jg. 17, H. 3, S. 205-236. DOI:10.1257/mac.20240026

Abstract

"We examine how search frictions impact labor market sorting by constructing a model consistent with evidence that employers interview a subset of a pool of applicants. We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for sorting in applications and matches. Positive sorting is obtained when production complementarities outweigh a counterforce measured by a (novel) quality-quantity elasticity. Interestingly, the threshold for the complementarities depends on the fraction of high-type workers and can be increasing in the number of interviews. Our model shows how policies like Ban the Box can backfire because when screening workers becomes harder, firms may discourage certain workers from applying." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Caldwell, Sydnee, Ingrid Haegele & Jörg Heining (2025): Firm Pay and Worker Search. (IAB-Discussion Paper 04/2025), Nürnberg, 141 S. DOI:10.48720/IAB.DP.2504

Abstract

"Ob und wie Arbeitnehmer am Arbeitsplatz suchen, hängt von ihren Vorstellungen über die Bezahlung und die Arbeitsbedingungen in anderen Unternehmen ab. Dennoch ist wenig darüber bekannt, wie viel Arbeitnehmer tatsächlich über die Arbeitsentgelte außerhalb ihrer aktuellen Beschäftigung Bescheid wissen. Wir nutzen eine groß angelegte Umfrage unter deutschen Vollzeitbeschäftigten, welche mit Sozialversicherungsdaten verknüpft wurde, um Gehaltserwartungen und Präferenzen gegenüber bestimmten externen Unternehmen zu ermitteln. Arbeitnehmer glauben, dass sie mit erheblicher Heterogenität hinsichtlich der Vergütung bei anderen Unternehmen konfrontiert sind und richten ihre Suche nach einem neuen Arbeitsplatz auf Unternehmen aus, von denen sie ausgehen, dass diese mehr bezahlen. Die von den Arbeitnehmern erwarteten unternehmensspezifischen Lohnaufschläge korrelieren sowohl stark mit den Vergütungsschemata, die sich anhand von administrativen Daten zeigen, als auch mit der Würdigung von firmenspezifischer Annehmlichkeiten. Die meisten Arbeiter sind auch bei einer erheblichen Erhöhung des Gehalts nicht bereit, sich einen neuen Job zu suchen – oder ihr derzeitiges Unternehmen zu verlassen. Die Kosten eines Jobwechsel betragen zwischen 7 und 18 Prozent des Jahreslohns eines Arbeitnehmers. Die Zugehörigkeit zu einem Arbeitgeber variiert je nach Arbeitgeber und kann nicht anhand von Unterschieden in firmenspezifischen Annehmlichkeiten oder den Kosten des Jobwechsels erklärt werden." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

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Carlini, Giacomo (2025): Essays in Macroeconomics and Labor Economics. 147 S.

Abstract

"The first chapter investigates why assortative matching between workers and firms is stronger in large cities than in small cities. I develop a search and matching model with heterogeneous workers and firms to examine how worker composition and labor market frictions affect sorting. Calibrating the model to German employer-employee data, I find that matching efficiency is key to explaining differences in assortative matching across cities. This effect is amplified by a more dispersed worker productivity dispersion. The model shows that around 5% of the GDP gap between large and small cities is attributable to differences in assortative matching, underscoring the role of local labor market frictions and productivity distributions in spatial inequality. The second chapter explores how task-biased technological adoption affects GDP gaps across countries. We introduce a country-specific measure of task intensity and document that as GDP increases, routine work declines while cognitive work rises. Moreover, differences in task content within occupations explain over half of the cross-country differences in routine work. Using a production framework where technology is task-specific and occupations are aggregates of tasks, we estimate task-specific productivities across countries. A counterfactual exercise suggests that reducing dispersion in task-biased technology adoption could shrink the average GDP gap with the United States by 25%. The third chapter examines sectoral labor productivity growth in the U.S. over 50 years, highlighting routine- and skill-biased technical change. I show that routine labor productivity has grown fastest, with skill-biased technical change benefiting skilled workers while unskilled productivity declined, especially in services. Finally, to disentangle the role of different labor-augmenting technological change, I extend the framework to account for heterogeneity in both occupations and skills." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Corradini, Carlo, David Morris & Enrico Vanino (2025): Marshallian agglomeration, labour pooling and skills matching. In: Cambridge Journal of Economics, Jg. 49, H. 3, S. 527-557. DOI:10.1093/cje/beaf010

Abstract

"Better skills matching has long been proposed as one of the key advantages of agglomeration economies. Yet, support for this improved matching has remained largely founded upon indirect proxies for skills such as wages and education. This paper contributes to the literature by offering novel empirical evidence on the relationship between specific measures of localised skills deficiencies and agglomeration economies, in the form of industrial density. Developing an instrumental variable approach and controlling for unobserved heterogeneity and other region-industry idiosyncratic effects across a panel dataset for the period 2009–2019 in England and Wales, our analysis reveals a positive effect of agglomeration economies in reducing both skills gaps within the employed workforce and skills shortages in the labour market external to the firm. We consider these findings in the context of persistent regional imbalances and the importance of strengthening skills provision within current regional industrial strategies." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Garibaldi, Pietro, Pedro Gomes & Thepthida Sopraseuth (2025): Output costs of education and skill mismatch in OECD countries. In: Economics Letters, Jg. 250. DOI:10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112278

Abstract

"We quantify the output costs of education and skills mismatch for 17 OECD economies, using a calibrated model of vertical mismatch. Eliminating the frictions generating mismatch would raise output by 3% to 4% on average, varying between 0.5% to 9% across countries. Although the education and skill mismatch measures are constructed using different methods and differ in size, the output costs are similar between the two measures." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.) ((en))

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Kline, Patrick (2025): Labor Market Monopsony: Fundamentals and Frontiers. (RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 2025,36), Berlin, 82 S.

Abstract

"This chapter reviews the theory of monopsonistic wage setting, its empirical implications, and some puzzles the framework has struggled to explain. We begin by examining the fundamentals of monopsonistic wage determination. The core of the theory is a mapping from the distribution of worker outside options to wages. We study non-parametric shape restrictions that ensure this mapping is unique. Building on these results, we introduce a menu of tractable parametrizations of labor supply to the firm, some of which are shown to emerge naturally from equilibrium search models. Next, we review why wage markdowns do not necessarily signal inefficiency and discuss some criteria for assessing misallocation in a monopsony model with search frictions. Turning to the model’s empirical implications, we examine how the magnitude of productivity-wage passthrough depends on the super-elasticity of labor supply to the firm and establish that compensating differentials for firm amenities depend on the curvature of the outside option distribution. We show that firm-specific shifts in either productivity or amenities can be used as instruments to identify labor supply elasticities and review strategies for estimating non-constant elasticities. We then consider extensions of the basic model involving third-degree wage discrimination and examine their ability to rationalize patterns of worker-firm sorting. Monopsony models traditionally assume that firms commit to posted wages. Relaxing this assumption, we develop a connection between the first-order conditions of the monopsony model and models of bargaining with incomplete information. These models explain why bilateral inefficiencies may persist in the presence of negotiation, yield predictions about the response of within-firm wage dispersion to productivity shocks, and suggest reasons why some productivity shifters may not constitute excludable instruments. Next, we endogenize productivity by allowing for efficiency wages, non-constant returns to scale, and price-cost markups. Empirical monopsony estimates often suggest that firms enjoy implausibly large profit margins. We argue that allowing for non-constant labor supply elasticities and firm adjustment costs can potentially resolve this difficulty. Finally, we review why the strong passthrough of minimum wages to product prices presents a challenging puzzle for standard monopsony models and discuss potential reconciliations to this puzzle involving firm heterogeneity, quality upgrading, and lumpy price adjustment." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Lalé, Etienne (2025): Search and multiple jobholding. In: Economic Theory, Jg. 80, H. 3, S. 891-939. DOI:10.1007/s00199-025-01647-3

Abstract

"This paper develops an equilibrium model of the labor market that incorporates hours worked, off- and on-the-job search, and both single and multiple jobholders. Central to the model’s mechanism is that taking on a second job ties the worker to her primary employer, while simultaneously providing the worker with a stronger outside option when bargaining with the secondary employer. The model quantitatively accounts for both the incidence of multiple jobholding and worker flows in and out of second jobs. It also sheds light on how multiple jobholding shapes outcomes that are typically the focus of search models. Multiple jobholding has opposing effects on job-to-job transitions, which largely offset each other. At the same time, the option of holding second jobs extends the survival of a worker’s main job, thereby reducing job separations and increasing the employment rate. These findings have significant implications for calibrating standard search models that ignore multiple jobholding." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Lisi, Gaetano (2025): Homeownership and (un)employment: Search theory and empirical evidence from a system GMM. In: Economics Bulletin, Jg. 45, H. 4, S. 1723-1734.

Abstract

"This paper suggests that the sign of the relation between homeownership and (un)employment changes according to both the type of homeowner and the market considered. In the housing market, employment positively affects homeownership with a mortgage (home search), whereas, in the labour market, outright homeownership negatively affects employment (job search). A panel analysis (on 27 European countries for the period 2014-2023) confirms the theoretical hypotheses. An augmented Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) version, known as “system GMM”, is used to tackle endogeneity." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Manning, Alan (2025): The Immobile Incumbent Problem in a Model of Short-Term Wage-Posting. In: German Economic Review, Jg. 26, H. 4, S. 315-360. DOI:10.1515/ger-2024-0127

Abstract

"This paper takes the canonical Burdett-Mortensen model of wage-posting and relaxes the assumption that wages are set once-for-all, instead assuming they can only be committed one period at a time. It derives a closed-form solution for a steady-state Markov Rank-Preserving Equilibrium and shows how this relates to the canonical model and performs some comparative statics on it. But it is shown that a Rank-Preserving Equilibrium may fail to exist because employers have more monopsony power over existing workers than new recruits and that this non-existence can be a problem for plausible parameter values. It is shown how a Rank-Inverting Equilibrium may exist. It is argued that this problem is likely to occur in a wide range of search models." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Naraidoo, Ruthira & Juan Paez-Farrell (2025): Business cycle models with labour market frictions: the role of the matching function. (Sheffield economic research paper series / The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics 2025006), Sheffield, 25 S.

Abstract

"Standard business cycle models with search and matching frictions in the labour market increasingly rely on the assumption that firms face hiring, as opposed to, search costs in recruiting workers. We show that although this modification im-proves the model's empirical performance, it causes the matching function to play no role in macroeconomic dynamics. Assuming both costs can overcome this short-coming but for reasonable parameter values it implies that matching efficiency shocks have no effects." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Platonov, Konstantin (2025): Post-pandemic recovery: Search and matching, market power, and endogenous labor demand. In: Economic Modelling, Jg. 151. DOI:10.1016/j.econmod.2025.107183

Abstract

"Following the COVID-19 pandemic, United States (US) output rebounded quickly, labor productivity rose above pre-pandemic levels, profit rates increased, and the labor market tightened, all despite high unemployment. These observations can be reconciled in a search and matching model of the labor market with two new assumptions of strong firm market power and endogenous labor demand. Market power encourages firm entry when prices rise, while endogenous labor demand enables firms to adapt to shocks rather than shut down. Two regimes arise: one with weak market power, representing the pre-pandemic era and another with strong market power, explaining the post-pandemic recovery. Under strong market power, firm entry drives recovery following recessions, the labor market becomes tight, wages and producer prices rise, and the average firm size shrinks, which is consistent with the post-pandemic data. This study demonstrates how a typical business cycle can be reconciled with US post-pandemic recovery within a unified model, highlighting the non-trivial role of firms’ market power in shaping macroeconomic outcomes." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2025 The Author. Published by Elsevier B.V.) ((en))

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Rendon, Silvio (2025): Testing for wage-specific search intensity. In: Journal for labour market research, Jg. 59. DOI:10.1186/s12651-024-00389-4

Abstract

"Most job search intensity models assume uniform search effort across all potential wage offers. I depart from this conventional assumption by proposing that agents allocate wage-specific search intensity, strategically avoiding effort on low-paying, unacceptable jobs or high-paying, improbable ones. This alternative model generates wage distributions at acceptance that differ markedly from the truncated distributions typical of models with constant arrival rates for wage offers. I leverage these distinct empirical predictions to develop two new nonparametric tests, applied to NLSY97 data, both of which reject the hypothesis of constant search intensity across wages. Furthermore, I estimate the structural parameters identifiable in each model, revealing that wage-specific search leads to greater total search effort, faster transitions into the upper tail of the wage distribution, and ultimately higher accepted wages—more than a 25% increase following unemployment. For low wages, the classic random search model delivers a fair replication of the actual data, but for higher wages targeted search is better. Wage-specific search suggests that job seekers not only need to search more, but also search better. This insight has important implications for employment policy, particularly in promoting job search literacy among the unemployed." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Sharma, Prateek (2025): Job market signalling: game theory and bidding strategies. In: Applied Economics Letters, S. 1-5. DOI:10.1080/13504851.2025.2570861

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Smith, Eric (2025): On-the-job wage dynamics. In: Journal of Economic Theory, Jg. 224. DOI:10.1016/j.jet.2024.105953

Abstract

"This paper assesses wage setting and wage dynamics in a search and matching framework where (i) workers and firms on occasion can meet multilaterally; (ii) workers can recall previous encounters with firms; and (iii) firms cannot commit to future wages and workers cannot commit to not searching in the future. The resulting progression of wages (from firms paying just enough to keep their workers) yields a compensation structure consistent with well established but difficult to reconcile observations on pay dynamics within jobs at firms. Along with wage tenure effects, serial correlation in wage changes and wage growth are negatively correlated with initial wages." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2025 The Author. Published by Elsevier Inc.) ((en))

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Tran Nhat, Diana & Timm Teubner (2025): Expectation vs. reality: How stereotypes and expectation disconfirmation affect job evaluations in online labor markets. In: PLoS ONE, Jg. 20, H. 11. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0334630

Abstract

"In online labor markets, reputation determines both job opportunities and pay and even small disparities can translate into significant economic differences. While gender-related bias in reputational metrics such as likes, reviews, and ratings has been empirically documented, the mechanisms through which they arise remain insufficiently understood. This study presents results from an online experiment, varying workers’ gender, domain, and performance, to investigate how expectations about workers are formed and how they affect subsequent evaluations. Drawing on Expectation Disconfirmation Theory and Role Congruity Theory, we test whether the effect of disconfirmation (i.e., discrepancies between expected and actual performance) on evaluations varies with congruity (i.e., stereotypical fit between gender and domain). Contrary to our hypothesis, workers in congruent settings do not elicit higher expectations than those in incongruent roles. Similarly, the effect of positive and negative disconfirmation does not vary with congruity. However, exploratory analyses suggest that congruity does affect expectations and evaluations when individuals hold strong gender-domain associations. In case of stereotypical associations, individuals expect higher performance of workers in congruent domains and evaluate them more leniently if they fail to meet expectations. Our findings contribute to understanding why identical performances might be judged differently depending on gender-domain associations, expectations, and disconfirmation." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Venables, Anthony J. (2025): Location choice when the number of jobs matters: Matching in spatial equilibrium. (CEP discussion paper / Centre for Economic Performance 2087), London, 22 S.

Abstract

"The idea that people want to go to where the jobs are is intuitive yet is absent from the standard quantitative spatial modelling approach in which location choices are guided by prices, without reference to quantities (the number of jobs in a place). The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap by making jobs, as well as places, the objects of household choice. This involves minor change to the modelling approach used in the literature and provides a simple description of labour market matching. Similar modification of the modelling of firms’ location choices captures the idea that these are shaped by both wage costs and the availability of workers with appropriate skill. These modifications yield powerful agglomeration forces, as workers’ location choices become positively influenced by the number of jobs in a place, and firms’ decision are shaped by the number of workers with appropriate skills. Results are established analytically and in a regional model in which the equilibrium distributions of workers and sectors are demonstrated." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Wee, Shu Lin (2025): Optimal unemployment insurance with multiple applications. In: Journal of monetary economics, Jg. 154. DOI:10.1016/j.jmoneco.2025.103798

Abstract

"This paper examines how unemployment transfers should be allocated over the business cycle. When risk-averse workers can submit multiple applications, the optimal UI policy is countercyclical. In contrast, optimal policy in a standard search model featuring one-to-one matching is procyclical. In the latter, more generous UI during a downturn discourages search effort, dampening job creation. In the former, decreased search effort aids job creation. Because firms cannot coordinate and commit to not making the same worker an offer, lower search effort by reducing the number of applications sent mitigates this coordination friction. This in turn boosts job creation incentives, supporting employment outcomes." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2025 The Author. Published by Elsevier B.V.) ((en))

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Abbritti, Mirko & Agostino Consolo (2024): Labour market skills, endogenous productivity and business cycles. In: European Economic Review, Jg. 170. DOI:10.1016/j.euroecorev.2024.104873

Abstract

"This paper analyses how labor market heterogeneity affects unemployment, productivity and business cycle dynamics. To this aim, we set up a model with asymmetric search and matching frictions across skilled and unskilled workers, and endogenous productivity through R&D investment and intangible capital accumulation. Skill mismatch and skill-specific labor market institutions have three main effects on business cycles and growth dynamics. First, the relative scarcity of skilled workers increases the natural rate of unemployment and reduces total factor productivity with long-run effects on the growth rate of output. Second, skill heterogeneity in the labor market generates asymmetric outcomes and amplifies measures of employment, wages and consumption inequality. Finally, the model provides important insights for the Phillips and Beveridge curves. Incorporating skill heterogeneity leads to a flattening of the Phillips curve as wages and unemployment respond unevenly across skill types. Also, the model generates sideward shifts of the Beveridge curve following business cycle shocks, with the extent of these shifts depending on the degree of skill heterogeneity." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2024 Elsevier) ((en))

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Baley, Isaac, Lars Ljungqvist & Thomas J. Sargent (2024): Returns to labour mobility. In: The Economic Journal, Jg. 135, H. 666, S. 430-454. DOI:10.1093/ej/ueae054

Abstract

"Returns to labor mobility have too often escaped the attention they deserve as conduits of important forces in macro-labour models. These returns are shaped by calibrations of productivity processes that use theoretical perspectives and data sources from (i) labour economics and (ii) industrial organization. By investigating earlier prominent studies, we conclude that the focus on firm size dynamics and shocks intermediated through neo-classical production functions in (ii) yields large returns to labor mobility that are robust to parameter perturbations. In contrast, the reliance on statistics in labor economics to calibrate per-worker productivity processes in (i) can give rise to fragilities in the sense that parameter perturbations that generate similar targeted statistics can have very different implications for returns to labor mobility." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Behaghel, Luc, Sofia Dromundo, Marc Gurgand, Yagan Hazard & Thomas Zuber (2024): The Potential of Recommender Systems for Directing Job Search: A Large-Scale Experiment. (IZA discussion paper / Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit 16781), Bonn, 65 S.

Abstract

"We analyze the employment effects of directing job seekers' applications toward establishments likely to recruit. We run a two-sided randomization design involving about 800,000 job seekers and 40,000 establishments, based on an empirical model that recommends each job seeker to firms so as to maximize total potential employment. Our intervention induces a 1% increase in job finding rates for short term contracts. This impact comes from a targeting effect combining (i) a modest increase in job seekers' applications to the very firms that were recommended to them, and (ii) a high success rate conditional on applying to these firms. Indeed, the success rate of job seekers' applications varies considerably across firms: the efficiency of applications sent to recommended firms is 2.7 times higher than the efficiency of applications to the average firm. This suggests that there can be substantial gains from better targeting job search, leveraging firm-level heterogeneity." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Belot, Michèle, Xiaoying Liu & Vaios Triantafyllou (2024): Measuring the quality of a match. In: Labour Economics, Jg. 89. DOI:10.1016/j.labeco.2024.102568

Abstract

"The quality of an employment match is a central concept in labor economics. It is relevant for evaluating the welfare impact of labor market policies, and for our understanding of labor market dynamics. This paper reviews the challenges associated with measuring match quality. We first review measures commonly used in the literature, their advantages, and drawbacks. We then present novel evidence from a survey sample of US employees where alternative measures were collected simultaneously. We show that while some of these measures correlate well, others do not. Finally, we present additional partial evidence on the correlations between measures based on the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79), a substantially larger and nationally representative survey. The takeaway message is a word of caution regarding the interpretation of some of these measures and specific concerns regarding using wages and tenure as indicators of match quality." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2024 Elsevier) ((en))

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Bernstein, Joshua, Michael Plante, Alexander W. Richter & Nathaniel A. Throckmorton (2024): A Simple Explanation of Countercyclical Uncertainty. In: American Economic Journal. Macroeconomics, Jg. 16, H. 4, S. 143-171. DOI:10.1257/mac.20220134

Abstract

"This paper documents that labor search and matching frictions generate countercyclical uncertainty because the inherent nonlinearity in the flow of new matches makes employment uncertainty increasing in the number of people searching for work. Quantitatively, this mechanism is strong enough to explain uncertainty and real activity dynamics, including their correlation. Through this lens, uncertainty fluctuations are endogenous responses to changes in real activity that neither affect the severity of business cycles nor warrant policy intervention, in contrast with leading theories of the interaction between uncertainty and real activity dynamics." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Birchenall, Javier A. (2024): A competitive theory of mismatch. In: Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Jg. 168. DOI:10.1016/j.jedc.2024.104996

Abstract

"I study the distributions of unemployment, vacancies, and wages across local labor markets in an economy where workers and jobs are matched and mismatched based on more explicit assumptions and aggregation principles than in the reduced-form aggregate matching-function approach. The endogenous matching process formulated here is flexible and has practical value for applied work. Local and aggregate labor market adjustments to local productivity and aggregate demand shocks reproduce empirical Beveridge and wage curve patterns, offer an alternative perspective on empirical indices of mismatch unemployment, and deliver an endogenous and commonly used reduced-form aggregate matching function." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.) ((en))

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Bischof, Stephan (2024): Test-based measurement of skill mismatch: a validation of five different measurement approaches using the NEPS. In: Journal for labour market research, Jg. 58. DOI:10.1186/s12651-024-00370-1

Abstract

"Skill mismatch is a key indicator of labour market research that has received significant attention. To date, various approaches of test-based measurement of skill mismatch have been used in research, generating differing results. However, it remains unclear which method is the most valid for measuring skill mismatch. This study provides a comparative validation of five commonly used approaches to test-based measurement of skill mismatches in reading and mathematics to detect the most valid method. Drawing on the 2016 wave of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) Adult Cohort, I find significantly varying distributions for the different measurement approaches, and highly valid skill mismatch measures for the statistical and the mixed approach. Overall, the mixed approach emerges as the most valid method. The findings highlight the critical importance of measurement approaches in skill mismatch research." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © Springer-Verlag) ((en))

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Bossler, Mario & Martin Popp (2024): Labor Demand on a Tight Leash. (IZA discussion paper / Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit 16837), Bonn, 99 S.

Abstract

"We develop a labor demand model that encompasses pre-match hiring cost arising from tight labor markets. Through the lens of the model, we study the effect of labor market tightness on firms’ labor demand by applying novel shift-share instruments to the universe of German firms. In line with theory, we find that a doubling in tightness reduces firms’ employment by 5 percent. Taking into account the resulting search externalities, the wage elasticity of firms’ labor demand reduces from -0.7 to -0.5 through reallocation effects. In light of our results, pre-match hiring cost amount to 40 percent of annual wage payments." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Bransch, Felix, Samreen Malik & Benedikt Mihm (2024): The cyclicality of on-the-job search. In: Labour Economics, Jg. 87. DOI:10.1016/j.labeco.2024.102517

Abstract

"On-the-job search is increasingly recognized as an important potential driver of labor market dynamics over the business cycle. Using the UK Labor Force Survey, we find robust empirical evidence that on-the-job search is countercyclical and that the cyclical fluctuations have important repercussions for labor market dynamics. We also find that the cyclical pattern is not explained by precautionary search motives but rather appears to be driven by job-ladder-motivated searches. This finding is surprising because, as we confirm, the expected returns to on-the-job search are procyclical. We find evidence that three features of search behavior may contribute to this finding: greater search effort in response to lower job-to-job transition probabilities, a prevalence of non-pecuniary motivated searches that are less affected by lower expected wage gains, and procyclicality in average match quality, which has a significant impact on the search behavior of new hires over the business cycle." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2024 Elsevier) ((en))

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Braunschweig, Luisa, Wolfgang Dauth & Duncan Roth (2024): Job Mobility and Assortative Matching. (IAB-Discussion Paper 11/2024), Nürnberg, 52 S. DOI:10.48720/IAB.DP.2411

Abstract

"Wir analysieren, wie sich das Matching zwischen Betrieben und Beschäftigten über das Erwerbsleben durch Jobmobilität verändert. Wir nutzen deutsche administrative Daten, die sowohl Informationen über Beschäftigte als auch Betriebe enthalten. Um assortatives Matching zu messen, berechnen wir die Korrelation zwischen zeitkonstanten Lohnkomponenten von Betrieben und Beschäftigten, welche wir aus einer Lohndekomposition im Stil von Abowd/Kramarz/Margolis (1999) ziehen. Zudem benutzen wir ein neues Maß für assortatives Matching, welches auf der Distanz zwischen diesen Lohnkomponenten basiert. Beide Maße zeigen, dass der Grad des assortativen Matchings im Durchschnitt mit jedem weiteren Betriebswechsel ansteigt. Bei Beschäftigten mit einer hohen zeitkonstanten Lohnkomponente kann dies durch Job Ladder Modelle erklärt werden, denn die Beschäftigten bewegen sich zu Firmen mit höheren Lohnkomponenten. Dahingegen sind Beschäftigte mit niedrigerer Lohnkomponente am Anfang des Erwerbslebens in weniger assortativen Matches zu finden, da sie es ebenfalls schaffen, zu Beginn die Job Ladder hinaufzuklettern. Für sie beginnt der Anstieg des assortativen Matchings erst nach dem dritten Job, wenn sie von der Job Ladder fallen. Die Entwicklung des assortativen Matchings ist zudem relevant für die Lohnungleichheit im Lebensverlauf. Wir zeigen, dass der Anstieg des assortativen Matchings circa 25 Prozent des Anstiegs der Lohnungleichheit im Lebensverlauf erklären kann." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

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Cowgill, Bo, Jonathan M. V. Davis, B. Pablo Montagnes & Patryk Perkowski (2024): Stable Matching on the Job? Theory and Evidence on Internal Talent Markets. (CESifo working paper 11120), München, 47, XLIII S.

Abstract

"A principal often needs to match agents to perform coordinated tasks, but agents can quit or slack off if they dislike their match. We study two prevalent approaches for matching within organizations: Centralized assignment by firm leaders and self-organization through market-like mechanisms. We provide a formal model of the strengths and weaknesses of both methods under different settings, incentives, and production technologies. The model highlights tradeoffs between match-specific productivity and job satisfaction. We then measure these tradeoffs with data from a large organization’s internal talent market. Firm-dictated matches are 33% more valuable than randomly assigned matches within job categories (using the firm’s preferred metric of quality). By contrast, preference-based matches (using deferred acceptance) are only 5% better than random but are ranked (on average) about 38 percentiles higher by the workforce. The selforganized match is positively assortative and helps workers grow new skills; the firm’s preferred match is negatively assortative and harvests existing expertise." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Cubas, German, Pedro Silos & Vesa Soini (2024): Risk and the allocation of talent in the Roy model. In: Economics Letters, Jg. 236. DOI:10.1016/j.econlet.2024.111623

Abstract

"With risk-averse workers and uninsurable earnings shocks, competitive markets allocate too few workers to risky jobs. Using an equilibrium Roy model with incomplete markets, we show that in competitive equilibrium, risky occupations are inefficiently small and hence talent is misallocated." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2024 Elsevier) ((en))

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Darougheh, Saman (2024): Occupation-Industry Mismatch in the Cross Section and the Aggregate. In: Journal of Political Economy Macroeconomics, Jg. 2, H. 3, S. 375-408. DOI:10.1086/731536

Abstract

"I define occupations that are employed in more industries as “broader ” occupations. I study the implications of broadness for mismatch of the unemployed and vacancies across occupations and industries. I empirically find that workers in broader occupations are better insured against industry specific shocks. A recent literature has found that mismatch did not significantly contribute to the rise in unemployment during the Great Recession. I build a general equilibrium model that uses occupational broadness as a microfoundation of mismatch. The model uncovers a general equilibrium channel that realigns the strong crosssectional effects of mismatch with its missing aggregate impact. I argue that mismatch across occupations and industries cannot significantly contribute to aggregate unemployment fluctuations" (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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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))

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Eeckhout, Jan & Alireza Sepahsalari (2024): The Effect of Wealth on Worker Productivity. In: The Review of Economic Studies, Jg. 91, H. 3, S. 1584-1633. DOI:10.1093/restud/rdad059

Abstract

"We propose a theory that analyzes how a workers’ asset holdings affect their job productivity. In a labor market with uninsurable risk, workers choose to direct their job search trading off productivity and wages against unemployment risk. Workers with low asset holdings have a precautionary job search motive, they direct their search to low productivity jobs because those offer a low risk at the cost of low productivity and a low wage. Our main theoretical contribution shows that the presence of consumption smoothing can reconcile the directed search model with negative duration-dependence on wages, a robust empirical regularity that the canonical directed search model cannot rationalize. We calibrate the infinite horizon economy and find this mechanism to be quantitatively important. We evaluate a tax financed unemployment insurance (UI) scheme and analyze how it affects welfare. Aggregate welfare is inverted U-shaped in benefits: the insurance effect UI dominates the incentive effects for low levels of benefits and vice versa for high benefits. In addition, when UI increases, total production falls in the economy while worker productivity increases." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Fongoni, Marco (2024): Asymmetric Reciprocity and the Cyclical Behavior of Wages, Effort, and Job Creation. In: American Economic Journal. Macroeconomics, Jg. 16, H. 3, S. 52-89. DOI:10.1257/mac.20200321

Abstract

"This paper develops a search and matching framework in which workers are characterized by asymmetric reference-dependent reciprocity and firms set wages by considering the effect that these can have on workers’ effort and, therefore, on output. The cyclical response ofeffort to wage changes can considerably amplify shocks, independently of the cyclicality of the hiring wage, which becomes irrelevant for unemployment volatility, and firms’ expectations of downward wage rigidity in existing jobs increases the volatility of job creation. The model is consistent with evidence on hiring and incumbents’ wage cyclicality, and provides novel predictions on the dynamics of effort." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Goensch, Johannes, Andreas Gulyas & Ioannis Kospentaris (2024): Worker mobility and UI extensions. In: European Economic Review, Jg. 162. DOI:10.1016/j.euroecorev.2024.104672

Abstract

"We develop an equilibrium search model with a labor force participation decision, job-to-job transitions, and endogenous separations. The calibrated model perfectly matches the observed labor market flows in US data. We use the model to simulate the effects of an extension of unemployment insurance benefits to 99 weeks. The reform leads to a decrease in employment, an increase in the labor force participation and unemployment rate, while it leaves labor productivity roughly constant. Using a model-based decomposition, as well as comparisons with alternative simplified models, we show that modeling workers’ participation decisions, job-to-job transitions, and endogenous separations together is crucial for a complete and accurate analysis of UI reforms." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2024 Elsevier) ((en))

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Komatsu, Katsuhiro (2024): The Welfare Impact of Reemployment Bonuses. (SSRN papers), Rochester, NY, 39 S. DOI:10.2139/ssrn.4534315

Abstract

"This paper investigates the welfare impact of reemployment bonuses in a dynamic job search model. Reemployment bonuses, monetary incentives offered to workers who obtain employment, may mitigate the moral hazard in unemployment insurance (UI) while preserving consumption smoothing. Using a sufficient statistics approach, I first show the substantial positive impact of reemployment bonuses on welfare given the current level of UI benefits. Then, by using a quantitative model of job search, consumption, and saving, I study the optimal combination of UI benefits and reemployment bonuses. I find that the optimal UI benefit level is higher when reemployment bonuses are incorporated. Compared to the welfare gain achieved by implementing only the optimal level of UI benefits, the optimal combination of UI benefits and reemployment bonuses achieves a 56 percent larger welfare gain." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Lochner, Benjamin & Bastian Schulz (2024): Firm Productivity, Wages, and Sorting. In: Journal of labor economics, Jg. 42, H. 1, S. 85-119., 2022-09-13. DOI:10.1086/722564

Abstract

"We study the link between firm productivity and the wages that firms pay. Guided by a search-matching model with large firms, worker and firm heterogeneity, and production complementarities, we infer firm productivity by estimating firm-level production functions. Using German data, we find that the most productive firms do not pay the highest wages. Worker transitions from high- to medium-productivity firms are on average associated with wage gains. Productivity sorting, that is, the sorting of high-ability workers into high-productivity firms, is less pronounced than the sorting into high-wage firms." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © University of Chicago Press) ((en))

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Moscarini, Giuseppe & Fabien Postel-Vinay (2024): On the Job Search and Business Cycles. In: Revue economique, Jg. Vol. 51, H. 1, S. 73-112. DOI:10.3917/reco.751.0073

Abstract

"We propose a highly tractable way of analyzing business cycles in an environment with random job search both off- and on-the-job (OJS). Heterogeneity in productivity across jobs generates a job ladder. Firms Bertrand-compete for employed workers, as in the Sequential Auctions protocol of Postel-Vinay and Robin [2002]. We identify three channels through which OJS amplifies and propagates aggregate shocks: 1) a higher estimated elasticity of the matching function when allowing for OJS; 2) the differential returns to hiring employed and unemployed job applicants, whose proportions naturally vary over the business cycle; 3) the slow reallocation of workers through OJS across rungs of the job ladder, generating endogenous, slowly evolving opportunities for further poaching, which feed back on job creation incentives." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Mueller, Andreas I., Damian Osterwalder, Josef Zweimüller & Andreas Kettemann (2024): Vacancy Durations and Entry Wages: Evidence from Linked Vacancy–Employer–Employee Data. In: The Review of Economic Studies, Jg. 91, H. 3, S. 1807-1841. DOI:10.1093/restud/rdad051

Abstract

"This article explores the relationship between the duration of a vacancy and the starting wage of a new job, using linked data on vacancies, the posting establishments, and the workers eventually filling the vacancies. The unique combination of large-scale, administrative worker, establishment, and vacancy data is critical for separating establishment- and job-level determinants of vacancy duration from worker-level heterogeneity. Conditional on observables, we find that vacancy duration is negatively correlated with the starting wage and its establishment component, with precisely estimated elasticities of −0.07 and −0.21, respectively. While the negative relationship is qualitatively consistent with search-theoretic models where firms use the wage as a recruiting device, these elasticities are small, suggesting that firms’ wage policies can account only for a small fraction of the variation in vacancy filling across establishments." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Mühlbauer, Sabrina & Enzo Weber (2024): Predicting Job Match Quality: A Machine Learning Approach. (IAB-Discussion Paper 09/2024), Nürnberg, 25 S. DOI:10.48720/IAB.DP.2409

Abstract

"Dieses Papier beschäftigt sich mit einer groß angelegten Datenanalyse um die Matching‑Qualität auf dem Arbeitsmarkt zu untersuchen. Hierfür verwenden wir einen sehr umfangreichen administrativen Datensatz zu Arbeitsmarktbiographien in Deutschland. Die Schätzungen werden sowohl mit maschinellem Lernen (extreme gradient boosting), als auch mit traditionellen statistischen Methoden (OLS, logit) durchgeführt. Bei der Gegenüberstellung beider Methoden wird deutlich, dass maschinelles Lernen insbesondere in den Bereichen Mustererkennung, Analyse von sehr großen Datensätzen und Minimierung der Fehlerrate deutliche Vorteile gegenüber den herkömmlichen Methoden aufweist. Schließlich werden die Prognosen für Matching‑Qualität (Stabilität und Löhne) mit Matching‑Wahrscheinlichkeiten kombiniert. Anhand dieser Ergebnisse wird für jede arbeitssuchende Person eine Liste mit Berufsvorschlägen generiert. Damit können Arbeitsvermittlern und Arbeitssuchenden Alternativen aufgezeigt werden, wodurch sich ihr Suchverhalten auf dem Arbeitsmarkt erweitern könnte." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

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Potter, Tristan (2024): Destabilizing search technology. In: Journal of monetary economics, Jg. 145. DOI:10.1016/j.jmoneco.2024.103557

Abstract

"Modern job search technologies enable job seekers to monitor the arrival of newly posted vacancies. This paper conceptualizes search as a monitoring decision and shows that monitoring technologies give rise to a novel source of strategic complementarities in search and can thus lead to potentially destabilizing multiplicity of equilibria. The model provides a theory of belief-driven fluctuations in labor supply that can permanently shift the path of the economy, and offers an explanation for persistently weak wage growth despite low unemployment during the recovery from the Great Recession." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2024 Elsevier) ((en))

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Stephan, Gesine, Clemens Hetschko, Julia Schmidtke, Michael Eid & Mario Lawes (2024): Feeling Observed? A Field Experiment on the Effects of Intense Survey Participation on Job Seekers’ Labour Market Outcomes. (IZA discussion paper / Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit 17347), Bonn, 29 S.

Abstract

"We ran a field experiment to causally identify the effects of intense survey participation on key labor market outcomes. We randomly excluded individuals willing to sign up for the German Job Search Panel, a high-frequency survey with a focus on job search and wellbeing. Using administrative data on labor market outcomes (e.g., employment, earnings), we find that, on average, survey participation had no effect on labor market outcomes during the year after signing up. Furthermore, there is no strong heterogeneity across subgroups. Overall, this is good news for the validity of survey-based research involving labor market outcomes. We also demonstrate that a comparison of individuals signing up for the survey with individuals not responding to the invitation could have been misleading. Even when controlling for a wide range of observable characteristics, survey participation and the subsequent take up of training programs correlate significantly. This speaks to the importance of experimental research designs in our context." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Uemura, Yuki (2024): Job search intensity and wage rigidity in business cycles. In: Journal of macroeconomics, Jg. 82. DOI:10.1016/j.jmacro.2024.103624

Abstract

"Search intensity, as well as the aggregate economic condition, is a crucial factor that determines unemployed workers’ success in job searches. Their search intensity is predicted to be procyclical in standard search and matching models. However, many empirical studies show that search intensity is countercyclical. This study examines the job search behavior of unemployed workers over business cycles using a search and matching model that incorporates wage rigidity and a generalized matching function. Unlike previous studies, the proposed model can generate both procyclical and countercyclical search intensities by introducing wage rigidity. This study 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, © 2024 Elsevier) ((en))

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Wu, Liangjie (2024): Partially directed search in the labor market. In: Journal of Economic Theory, Jg. 220. DOI:10.1016/j.jet.2024.105858

Abstract

"I study the labor market implications of an equilibrium search model with flexible degrees of information availability, which nests the random and directed search models as special cases. Workers have limited information about the payoffs of applying to different firms. Firms use wages to attract workers and mediate externalities among applicants. Limited information interacts with the allocative role of wages, leading to new predictions. Reducing information friction has non-monotonic impacts on efficiency. When the cost of acquiring information is low (high), alleviating the information friction reduces (exacerbates) the distortion in the market equilibrium. I then apply this model to discuss the implications of improvements in information technology and the spillover effects among workers in the labor market." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2024 Elsevier) ((en))

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Ziegler, Lennart (2024): Skill Demand and Wages: Evidence From Linked Vacancy Data. In: Benjamin Elsner; Solomon W. Polachek (eds.) (2024): Big Data Applications in Labor Economics, Part B, Cheltenham, S. 101-130. DOI:10.1108/S0147-91212024000052B025

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. In a sample of 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. Accounting for a broad set of detailed job characteristics, 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, © Emerald) ((en))

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Baert, Stijn, Jolien Herregods & Philippe Sterkens (2023): What does job applicants' body art signal to employers? (Working paper / Ghent University. Faculty of Economics and Business Administration 2023,1072), Gent, 30 S.

Abstract

"In this study, we present a state-of-the-art scenario experiment which, for the first time in the literature, directly measures the stigma surrounding job candidates with tattoos and piercings using real recruiters. We find that job candidates with body art are perceived as less pleasant to work with, less honest, less emotionally stable, less agreeable, less conscientious and less manageable. This goes hand in hand with lower hireability for men with body art but not for women. Compared to candidates who reveal obesity, a characteristic we also randomise, those with body art score better overall in terms of hireability and rated personality, similar in terms of rated taste to collaborate but worse in terms of rated direct productivity drivers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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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))

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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))

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Bigoni, Maria, Matteo Ploner & Thi-Thanh-Tam Vu (2023): The right person for the right job: workers’ prosociality as a screening device. In: Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Jg. 212, S. 53-73. DOI:10.1016/j.jebo.2023.04.013

Abstract

"The impact of workers’ non-pecuniary motivation on their productivity is a fundamental issue in labor economics. Previous studies indicate that prosocially motivated workers may perform better when assigned to jobs having socially desirable implications – even if effort is non-contractible and they are offered a low-powered fixed-compensation scheme – as compared to a standard job with an effort-contingent payment. This suggests that profit-maximizing employers should assign workers to different jobs, based on workers’ prosociality. We run an experiment to explore the link between workers’ prosociality and their level of effort under a prosocial and a standard job. Our experimental results provide some support to the hypothesis that selfish employers exploit the information on workers’ prosociality to assign them the type of job that would be most profitable from the firm’s perspective. However, the prosocial motivation of employers emerges as a second important determinant of their contract choice: employers’ prosociality drives their contract choice, when the worker is not prosocial." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2023 Elsevier) ((en))

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Borjas, George J. (2023): Labor economics. New York: MacGraw-Hill, 494 S.

Abstract

"Labor Economics, ninth edition by George J. Borjas provides a modern introduction to labor economics, surveying the field with an emphasis on both theory and facts. Labor Economics is thoroughly integrated with the adaptive digital tools available in McGraw-Hill’s Connect, proven to increase student engagement and success in the course. All new Data Explorer questions using data simulation to help students grasp concepts Materials are fresh and up to date by introducing and discussing the latest research studies where conceptual or empirical contributions have increased our understanding of the labor market. The book has undergone Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion reviews to implement content around topics including generalizations and stereotypes, gender, abilities/disabilities, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, diversity of names, and age." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Bossler, Mario & Martin Popp (2023): Labor Demand on a Tight Leash. (LASER discussion papers 143), Erlangen, 77 S. DOI:10.48720/IAB.DP.2302

Abstract

"In diesem Aufsatz stellen wir ein Arbeitsnachfrage-Modell auf, das Einstellungskosten berücksichtigt, die aufgrund eines angespannten Arbeitsmarktes bei der Besetzung offener Stellen anfallen. Darauf aufbauend schätzen wir den Effekt der Arbeitsmarktanspannung auf die betriebliche Arbeitsnachfrage, indem wir neuartige Bartik-Instrumente sowie administrative Beschäftigungsdaten für Deutschland heranziehen. Im Einklang mit der Theorie deuten die IV-Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass ein zehnprozentiger Anstieg der Arbeitsmarktanspannung die betriebliche Beschäftigung um rund 0,5 Prozent reduziert. Außerdem zeigt sich, dass die betriebliche Lohnelastizität der Arbeitsnachfrage durch Einbeziehung von Suchexternalitäten auf der aggregierten Ebene von -0,7 auf -0,5 sinkt. In Bezug auf die Einführung des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns im Jahr 2015 implizieren die Elastizitäten nur geringfügig negative Beschäftigungseffekte, was die Ergebnisse empirischer Ex-Post-Evaluationen widerspiegelt. Darüber hinaus führte die Verdoppelung der Arbeitsmarktanspannung in Deutschland zwischen 2012 und 2019 zu einer Verringerung des Beschäftigungswachstums um rund 1,1 Millionen Arbeitsplätze." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

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Carillo-Tudela, Carlos, Leo Kaas & Benjamin Lochner (2023): Matching Through Search Channels. (IAB-Discussion Paper 10/2023), Nürnberg, 85 S. DOI:10.48720/IAB.DP.2310

Abstract

"Firmen und Arbeitnehmer/-innen finden überwiegend über Stellenanzeigen, persönliche Kontaktnetzwerke oder die Bundesagentur für Arbeit zueinander. All diese Suchkanäle tragen dazu bei, Friktionen am Arbeitsmarkt zu verringern. In diesem Papier untersuchen wir, inwieweit diese Suchkanäle unterschiedliche Auswirkungen auf den Arbeitsmarkt haben. Anhand einer neuen Datenverknüpfung aus administrativer Daten und Umfragedaten zeigen wir: (i) Niedriglohnfirmen und Niedriglohnbeziehende finden vermehrt über Netzwerke oder die Bundesagentur für Arbeit zueinander, währendessen Hochlohnfirmen und Hochlohnbeziehende häufiger über Stellenanzeigen zusammenkommen. (ii) Dabei nutzen Firmen Stellenanzeigen vor allem bei der Abwerbung und Gewinnung von Hochlohnbeziehenden. Im Vergleich zu anderen Suchkanälen, werden Stellenanzeigen auch vermehrt von Beschäftigten beim Aufstieg auf der Karriereleiter genutzt. Um die Auswirkungen dieser Beobachtungen auf die aggregierte Beschäftigung, die Löhne und die Arbeitsmarktsortierung zu bewerten, schätzen wir strukturell ein Gleichgewichtsmodell, das sich durch Karriereleitern, zweiseitige Heterogenität, mehrere Suchkanäle und endogene Einstellungsintensität auszeichnet. Die Schätzung zeigt, dass Netzwerke der kosteneffizienteste Kanal sind, der es Firmen ermöglicht, schnell einzustellen, aber auch Arbeitskräfte mit geringeren durchschnittlichen Fähigkeiten anzuziehen. Stellenanzeigen sind der kostspieligste Kanal, erleichtern die Einstellung von Arbeitnehmern/-innen mit höheren Fähigkeiten und sind für die Sortierung zwischen Beschäftigten und Firmen am wichtigsten. In kontrafaktischen Berechnungen zeigt sich, dass obwohl die Bundesagentur für Arbeit die geringste Einstellungswahrscheinlichkeit bietet, ihre hypothetische Abschaffung beträchtliche Folgen hätte. Die Gesamtbeschäftigung würde um mindestens 1,4 Prozent sinken und die Lohnungleichheit steigen." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

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Carrillo-Tudela, Carlos, Hermann Gartner & Leo Kaas (2023): Recruitment Policies, Job-Filling Rates and Matching Efficiency. In: Journal of the European Economic Association, Jg. 21, H. 6, S. 2413-2459., 2023-01-09. DOI:10.1093/jeea/jvad034

Abstract

"Recruitment intensity is important for the matching process in the labor market. Using unique linked survey-administrative data, we investigate the relationships between hiring and recruitment policies at the establishment level. Faster hiring goes along with higher search effort, lower hiring standards and more generous wages. We develop a directed search model that links these patterns to the employment adjustments of heterogenous firms. The model provides a novel structural decomposition of the matching function that we use to evaluate the relative importance of these recruitment policies at the aggregate level. The calibrated model shows that hiring standards play an important role in explaining differences in matching efficiency across labor markets defined as region/skill cross products and for the impact of labor market policy, whereas search effort and wage policies play only a minor role." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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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))

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Eckel, Carsten & Stephen R. Yeaple (2023): Inefficient Labor Market Sorting. (Discussion paper / Rationality & Competition, CCR TRR 190 437), München ; Berlin, 47 S.

Abstract

"A growing empirical literature attributes much of the productivity advantages of large, "superstar" firms to their adoption of best practice management techniques that allow them to better identify and use talented workers. The reasons for the incomplete adoption of these "structured management practices" and their welfare implications are not well understood. This paper provides a positive and normative analysis of these issues in a theoretical framework in which structured management practices induce sorting of talent across firms. Incomplete adoption arises because worker talent is in limited supply. In equilibrium there is excessive adoption of structured management practices and too much sorting of talented workers into large firms. In this second-best environment, policy changes that favor large firms, such as trade liberalization, have the potential to lower welfare." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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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))

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Lee, Joonbae & Hanna Wang (2023): Ranking and search effort in matching. In: Economic Theory, Jg. 75, H. 1, S. 113-136. DOI:10.1007/s00199-021-01391-4

Abstract

"This paper studies the relationship between search effort and workers’ ranking by employers. In order to do so, we propose a matching model in which employers have common preferences over a continuum of heterogeneous workers who choose a number of applications to send out. We show that in equilibrium, the relationship is hump-shaped for sufficiently high vacancy-to-worker ratios, that is, highly-ranked and lowly-ranked workers send out fewer applications than workers of mid-range rank. This arises due to two opposing forces driving the incentives of applicants. Increasing the number of applications acts as insurance against unemployment, but is less effective when the probability of success for each application is low. This mechanism exacerbates the negative employment outcomes of low-rank workers—hence, in contrast to the market equilibrium, in the social planner’s solution, the number of applications monotonically decrease in rank." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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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))

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Minni, Virginia (2023): Making the invisible hand visible: Managers and the allocation of workers to jobs. (CEP discussion paper / Centre for Economic Performance 1948), London, 80 S.

Abstract

"Why do managers matter for firm performance? This paper provides evidence of the critical role of managers in matching workers to jobs within the firm using the universe of personnel records from a large multinational firm. The data covers 200,000 white-collar workers and 30,000 managers over 10 years in 100 countries. I identify good managers as the top 30% by their speed of promotion and leverage exogenous variation induced by the rotation of managers across teams. I find that good managers cause workers to reallocate within the firm through lateral and vertical transfers. This leads to large and persistent gains in workers' career progression and productivity. Seven years after the manager transition, workers earn 30% more and perform better on objective performance measures. In terms of aggregate firm productivity, doubling the share of good managers would increase output per worker by 61% at the establishment level. My results imply that the visible hands of managers match workers' specific skills to specialized jobs, leading to an improvement in the productivity of existing workers that outlasts the managers' time at the firm." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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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))

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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))

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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))

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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))

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Rehman, Fahad Ur, Tabasam Rashid & Muhammad Tanveer Hussain (2023): Applications of maximum matching by using bipolar fuzzy incidence graphs. In: PLoS ONE, Jg. 18. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0285603

Abstract

"The extension of bipolar fuzzy graph is bipolar fuzzy incidence graph (BFIG) which gives the information regarding the effect of vertices on the edges. In this paper, the concept of matching in bipartite BFIG and also for BFIG is introduced. Some results and theorems of fuzzy graphs are also extended in BFIGs. The number of operations in BFIGs such as augmenting paths, matching principal numbers, relation between these principal numbers and maximum matching principal numbers are being investigated which are helpful in the selection of maximum most allied applicants for the job and also to get the maximum outcome with minimum loss (due to any controversial issues among the employees of a company). Some characteristics of maximum matching principal numbers in BFIG are explained which are helpful for solving the vertex and incidence pair fuzzy maximization problems. Lastly, obtained maximum matching principal numbers by using the matching concept to prove its applicability and effectiveness for the applications in bipartite BFIG and also for the BFIG." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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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))

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Ryan, Rich (2023): Responses of unemployment to productivity changes for a general matching technology. In: Economics Bulletin, Jg. 43, H. 4, S. 1749-1758.

Abstract

"Workers separate from jobs, search for jobs, accept jobs, and fund consumption with their wages. Firms recruit workers to fill vacancies. Search frictions prevent firms from instantly hiring available workers. Unemployment persists. These features are described by the Diamond--Mortensen--Pissarides modeling framework. In this class of models, how unemployment responds to productivity changes depends on resources that can be allocated to job creation. Yet, this characterization has been made when matching is parameterized by a Cobb--Douglas technology. For a canonical DMP model, I (1) demonstrate that a unique steady-state equilibrium will exist as long as the initial vacancy yields a positive surplus; (2) characterize responses of unemployment to productivity changes for a general matching technology; and (3) show how a matching technology that is not Cobb--Douglas implies unemployment responds more to productivity changes, which is independent of resources available for job creation, a feature that will be of interest to business-cycle researchers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Segovia, Javier López (2023): Consumption Commitments and Unemployment Insurance. (CRC TR 224 discussion paper series / EPoS Collaborative Research Center Transregio 224 458), Bonn, 49 S.

Abstract

"Households allocate around 40% of their budget to goods and services that are difficult to adjust, such as rents, mortgages, or mobile plans, which are called “commitments”. Only about 11% of households adjust the consumption of these goods every quarter. Commitments imply monthly payments that are hard to avoid and make employment and income fluctuations more costly. This paper analyzes the role of unemployment insurance in the presence of commitments using a heterogeneous agents search model with incomplete markets and unemployment shocks. The model is calibrated to the US data and matches key features of the US labor market. Using this framework, we show that the existence of commitment goods amplifies the effects of unemployment insurance on search effort and unemployment duration. Commitments also induce households to build larger precautionary savings. Morover, we show that welfare gains from elimating UI increase from 3.4% to 4.2% when commitments are considered. The optimal replacement rate is 57% in the benchmark economy, higher than the current US policy (50%)." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Weißmann, Markus & Tobias Roth (2023): Pre-existing company contacts and premature termination of apprenticeship training in Germany. In: Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, Jg. 87. DOI:10.1016/j.rssm.2023.100839

Abstract

"Using longitudinal data from Starting Cohort 4 of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), we examined whether pre-existing strong ties and weak ties in the training company are associated with the risk of premature termination of apprenticeship training in Germany. This is highly relevant for the literature on social capital in the labor market since so far little is known about the role of social contacts for the turnover propensity of labor market entrants. By examining a potentially important factor for a successful labor market integration, our research also adds to both the school-to-work and the social stratification literature. Our empirical results are only partly consistent with our theoretically derived expectations. While contrary to our expectations, we found no association between strong ties and termination probability, weak ties were, as expected, associated with a lower probability of premature training termination among those apprentices who were trained in their desired occupation. Our main results, combined with several robustness checks, let us assume that this is due to better matched training situations." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2024 Elsevier) ((en))

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Card, David (2022): Who Set Your Wage? In: The American economic review, Jg. 112, H. 4, S. 1075-1090. DOI:10.1257/aer.112.4.1075

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))

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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))

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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))

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DellaVigna, Stefano, Jörg Heining, Johannes F. Schmieder & Simon Trenkle (2022): Evidence on Job Search Models from a Survey of Unemployed Workers in Germany. In: The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Jg. 137, H. 2, S. 1181-1232., 2021-09-11. DOI:10.1093/qje/qjab039

Abstract

"Die Wahrscheinlichkeit eine neue Beschäftigung zu finden nimmt für Bezieher von Leistungen aus der Arbeitslosenversicherung in den ersten Monaten der Arbeitslosigkeit zunächst ab, steigt dann aber zum Ende der Bezugsdauer wieder an, um danach erneut abzuflachen. Zahlreiche theoretische Ansätze wurden bisher vorgeschlagen, um dieses Muster zu erklären, jedoch ist dies kaum möglich sofern dafür nur Daten über die Tatsache der Arbeitsaufnahme an sich herangezogen werden. Um die zugrundeliegenden Mechanismen besser zu verstehen, haben wir mittels SMS-Kurznachrichten eine groß angelegte Befragung von Arbeitslosen durchgeführt. Insgesamt wurden über 6.800 Leistungsbezieher zweimal pro Woche über jeweils vier Monate über den zeitlichen Aufwand bei der Suche nach einem neuen Arbeitsplatz befragt. Aufgrund der resultierenden Panelstruktur war es uns nun möglich Erkenntnisse zu sammeln, wie sich dieser zeitliche Aufwand auf individueller Ebene über die Dauer der Arbeitslosigkeit hinweg entwickelt. Unsere drei Hauptergebnisse lauten: 1) Der Suchaufwand verläuft flach zu Beginn der Arbeitslosigkeit. 2) Weiter steigt der Suchaufwand zum Ende der Bezugsdauer an, nimmt im Anschluss daran jedoch wieder ab. 3) Es gibt keine Anzeichen dafür, dass Leistungsbezieher die Aufnahme einer neuen Beschäftigung bewusst an das Ende der Bezugsdauer verzögern. Insbesondere das zweite und das dritte dieser Ergebnisse lassen sich kaum mit den Standardmodellen zur Arbeitssuche basierend auf unbeobachteter Heterogenität bzw. so genannten Storable Offer Modellen erklären. Dagegen können die genannten Ergebnisse gut mittels eines Suchmodells mit Reference Dependence erklärt werden." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

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Dellkamm, Rabea, Kathrin Möckel, Holger Schäfer & Oliver Stettes (2022): Wie gut passen Bewerber und Stellen zusammen? Eine Analyse der Qualität neu zustande gekommener Arbeitsverhältnisse (Matches) in ausgewählten Arbeitssegmenten. (IW-Report / Institut der Deutschen Wirtschaft Köln 2022,47), Köln, 24 S.

Abstract

"Die empirische Arbeitsmarktforschung ist derzeit nur eingeschränkt in der Lage, die Qualität der Ausgleichprozesse am Arbeitsmarkt anhand der Merkmale der neu zustande gekommenen Beschäftigungsverhältnisse zu beschreiben. Die Analyse von Stellenanzeigen kann zwar detaillierte Einblicke über konkrete Stellenanforderungen geben, ob diese aber auch von den späteren Stelleninhabern erfüllt werden, bleibt bei einer derartigen Analyse ungeklärt. Auswertungen der IAB-Stellenerhebung stehen unter dem Vorbehalt, dass sie nur die letzte neu besetzte Vakanz in den Blick nehmen können. Die vorliegende Studie auf Basis eines speziell für diese Zwecke bereitgestellten Datensatzes durch den Personaldienstleister Hays, der detaillierte Informationen sowohl über Stellenanforderungen als auch die Kompetenzprofile der Beschäftigten in neu zustande gekommenen Arbeitsverhältnissen enthält, zeigt die Potenziale von Analysen auf, die die Qualität einer großen Anzahl von Matching-Prozessen beschreiben wollen." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

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Fernandez, Marcelo Ariel, Kirill Rudov & Leeat Yariv (2022): Centralized Matching with Incomplete Information. In: The American economic review. Insights, Jg. 4, H. 1, S. 18-33. DOI:10.1257/aeri.20210123

Abstract

"We study the impacts of incomplete information on centralized one-to-one matching markets. We focus on the commonly used Deferred Acceptance mechanism (Gale and Shapley 1962). We show that many complete-information results are fragile to a small infusion of uncertainty about others’ preferences." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku)((en))

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Folger, Nicholas, Prisca Brosi, Jutta Stumpf-Wollersheim & Isabell M. Welpe (2022): Applicant Reactions to Digital Selection Methods. A Signaling Perspective on Innovativeness and Procedural Justice. In: Journal of Business and Psychology, Jg. 37, H. 4, S. 735-757. DOI:10.1007/s10869-021-09770-3

Abstract

"Research has shown that the use of digital technologies in the personnel selection process can have both positive and negative effects on applicants’ attraction to an organization. We explain this contradiction by specifying its underlying mechanisms. Drawing on signaling theory, we build a conceptual model that applies two different theoretical lenses (instrumental-symbolic framework and justice theory) to suggest that perceptions of innovativeness and procedural justice explain the relationship between an organization’s use of digital selection methods and employer attractiveness perceptions. We test our model by utilizing two studies, namely one experimental vignette study among potential applicants (N = 475) and one retrospective field study among actual job applicants (N = 335). With the exception of the assessment stage in Study 1, the positive indirect effects found in both studies indicated that applicants perceive digital selection methods to be more innovative. While Study 1 also revealed a negative indirect effect, with potential applicants further perceiving digital selection methods as less fair than less digitalized methods in the interview stage, this effect was not significant for actual job applicants in Study 2. We discuss theoretical implications for the applicant reactions literature and offer recommendations for human resource managers to make use of positive signaling effects while reducing potential negative signaling effects linked to the use of digital selection methods." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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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))

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Jain, Ritesh & Srinivasan Murali (2022): Labour search with endogenous outside option. In: Economics Bulletin, Jg. 42, H. 2, S. 1092-1102.

Abstract

"We incorporate the extended version of Nash bargaining proposed by Vartiainen (2007) in a standard labour search and matching model to endogenously determine the outside option of workers along with their wages. We find that the optimal outside option of a worker under this framework is zero and this equilibrium maximizes social welfare when the economy is constrained efficient." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Kohlbrecher, Britta & Christian Merkl (2022): Business cycle asymmetries and the labor market. In: Journal of macroeconomics, Jg. 73. DOI:10.1016/j.jmacro.2022.103458

Abstract

"This paper shows that a search and matching model with idiosyncratic training cost shocks can explain the asymmetric movement of the job-finding rate over the business cycle and the decline of matching efficiency in recessions. Large negative aggregate shocks move the hiring cutoff into a part of the training cost distribution with higher density. The position of the hiring cutoff in the distribution is disciplined by the empirical elasticity of the job-finding rate with respect to market tightness. Our model explains a large fraction of the matching efficiency decline during the Great Recession and generates state-dependent effects of policy interventions." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2022 Elsevier) ((en))

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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))

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Lochner, Benjamin & Christian Merkl (2022): Gender-Specific Application Behavior, Matching, and the Residual Gender Earnings Gap. (LASER discussion papers 139), Erlangen, 55 S.

Abstract

"In diesem Papier untersuchen wir das geschlechterspezifische Bewerbungs- und Einstellungsverhalten sowie deren Implikationen für die Lohnlücke. Um die zugrundeliegenden Mechanismen besser zu verstehen, leiten wir aus einem zweistufigen Matching-Modell Implikationen her, die wir auf Basis der IAB-Stellenerhebung überprüfen. Es zeigt sich, dass die Muster in den Daten konsistent mit der Theorie von linearen und nichtlinearen Produktionsfunktionen sind. Wir dokumentieren, dass sich Frauen seltener bei Hochlohn- als bei Niedriglohnfirmen bewerben. Dahingegen finden wir keinen statistisch signifikanten Unterschied in der Einstellungswahrscheinlichkeit zwischen Männern und Frauen, wenn sie sich bei Hochlohnfirmen bewerben. Diese Muster sprechen gegen die Diskriminierungshypothese aus dem theoretischen Modell, lassen sich aber dadurch erklären, dass Jobs bei Hochlohnfirmen höhere arbeitgeberseitige Flexibilitätsanforderungen haben. Wir zeigen, dass der Anteil der männlichen Bewerber in verschiedenen, beobachtbaren Flexibilitätsanforderungen ansteigt. Wenn wir den Anteil der männlichen Bewerber in Mincer-Lohnregressionen als zusätzliche erklärende Variable für Flexibilitätsanforderungen aufnehmen, sinkt der Geschlechterunterschied im Einstellungslohn zwischen Männern und Frauen um etwa 50-60 Prozent. Frauen, die in Jobs eingestellt werden, bei denen sich viele Männer bewerben, verdienen signifikant mehr als Frauen, die in vergleichbaren Jobs eingestellt werden, bei denen sich ausschließlich Frauen bewerben. Wenn Frauen mit Kindern Jobs mit hohen Flexibilitätsanforderungen annehmen, müssen sie dahingegen große Lohneinbußen im Vergleich zu Männern hinnehmen." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

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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))

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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))

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Bertheau, Antoine (2021): Employer Search Behavior: Reasons for Internal Hiring. In: Labour Economics, Jg. 73. DOI:10.1016/j.labeco.2021.102064

Abstract

"This article studies reasons for internal hiring, i.e., re-assigning or promoting an employee instead of recruiting an external candidate. We exploit a representative survey of establishments covering all European Union countries to measure employers' search for internal candidates. Internal search is a widespread practice: 66% of establishments typically search internally. The accumulation of specific skills and the provision of incentives for employees are the main advantages of hiring internally in the theoretical literature. Ordered probit estimates show that on-the-job training and internal search are positively associated. On the contrary, incentive schemes such as variable pay are not associated with employer search. These results help to assess competing theories, and in particular, suggest that specific human capital is an important driver of internal hiring. Finally, we uncover two interesting facts that need further research: internal hiring is less likely in service firms and in non-competitive product markets." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2022 Elsevier) ((en))

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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))