Abstract

How do workers and firms meet in today’s labor market? Which challenges persist for hiring and retaining qualified workers? And who are the winners and losers of the fast-changing dynamics of the labor market that continues to be shaped by seismic shifts such as ongoing skill shortage and digitalization. In this project, we design and field new surveys to German firms and German workers that allow us to link these two perspectives on job search and hiring in today’s labor market. These new survey data, which we link to the IAB records, will allow us to identify which recruiting strategies different firms use, to what extent job opportunities are open to different types of workers, and how workers differ in their job search decisions. Using quasi-experimental variation induced in the survey, we will also be able to map out important job search elasticities for workers and link these to high-stakes wage outcomes and career progression based on the IAB data.