Labour market flows from a macroeconomic perspective

Abstract

"Labour market flows are of central significance for the development of employment and unemployment. In this doctoral thesis I deal above all with flows on the German labour market from a macroeconomic perspective. I use various different data sources of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) to calculate worker flows and job flows as well as inflows into and outflows from unemployment. I then analyse the cyclical behaviour of job turnover and labour turnover in Western Germany. One aim is to find out which economic sectors create new jobs in a boom period and how firms react in a recession. In this dissertation I also illustrate how to calculate and describe the labour turnover in a national labour accounting system. To do this I highlight the historical background of the labour market accounting system of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) and describe the different data sources and the estimation method ADETON in great detail. Through this approach it is possible to specify the ways out of unemployment and the ways into employment on the basis of the labour market accounting system for the year 2004. An excursus deals with inflows into and outflows from unemployment in the years 2005 to 2007 under Books II and III of the German Social Code (SGB). A special application shows the possibilities of developing a multi-accounting system (MAS) for regional labour markets. Combining administrative data at the micro level with various macro data, the MAS describes the transition process of labour market areas in Germany. A further analysis focuses on labour market dynamics for differing age groups and emphasizes the special role played by young people on the labour market as regards the probability of ceasing to be unemployment and the labour turnover. The main finding is that the turnover rate for young people is very high which means that, although it is easier for them to cease to be unemployed, job stability is much lower. One aim of active labour market policy should be to optimise the various transitions for the young and if necessary to guide social disadvantaged people in order to help them enter or re-enter the labour force." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Rothe, T. (2009): Bewegungen auf dem Arbeitsmarkt. Eine Analyse aus gesamtwirtschaftlicher Perspektive. (IAB-Bibliothek 317), Bielefeld: Bertelsmann, 182 p. DOI:10.3278/300663w