A Congestion Theory of Unemployment Fluctuations
Yusuf Mercan, Benjamin Schoefer, Petr Sedláček
American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics,
Nr. 1,
2024
Abstract
We propose a theory of unemployment fluctuations in which newhires and incumbentworkers are imperfect substitutes. Hence, attempts to hire away the unemployed during recessions diminish the marginal product of new hires, discouraging job creation. This single feature achieves a ten-fold increase in the volatility of hiring in an otherwise standard search model, produces a realistic Beveridge curve despite countercyclical separations, and explains 30–40% of U.S. unemployment fluctuations. Additionally, it explains the excess procyclicality of new hires’ wages, the cyclical labor wedge, countercyclical earnings losses from job displacement, and the limited steady-state effects of unemployment insurance.
Artikel Lesen
Safety Net or Helping Hand? The Effect of Job Search Assistance and Compensation on Displaced Workers
Daniel Fackler, Jens Stegmaier, Richard Upward
IWH Discussion Papers,
Nr. 18,
2023
Abstract
We provide the first systematic evidence on the effectiveness of a contested policy in Germany to help displaced workers. So-called “transfer companies” (Transfergesellschaften) employ displaced workers for a fixed period, during which time workers are provided with job-search assistance and are paid a wage which is a substantial fraction of their pre-displacement wage. Using rich and accurate data on workers’ employment patterns before and after displacement, we compare the earnings and employment outcomes of displaced workers who entered transfer companies with those that did not. Workers can choose whether or not to accept a position in a transfer company, and therefore we use the availability of a transfer company at the establishment level as an IV in a model of one-sided compliance. Using an event study, we find that workers who enter a transfer company have significantly worse post-displacement outcomes, but we show that this is likely to be the result of negative selection: workers who lack good outside opportunities are more likely to choose to enter the transfer company. In contrast, ITT and IV estimates indicate that the use of a transfer company has a positive and significant effect on employment rates five years after job loss, but no significant effect on earnings. In addition, the transfer company provides significant additional compensation to displaced workers in the first 12 months after job loss.
Artikel Lesen
Produktivität
Produktivität: Mehr mit weniger durch besser Die verfügbaren Ressourcen sind begrenzt. Nur wenn wir sie...
Zur Seite
IWH-Insolvenzforschung
IWH-Insolvenzforschung Die IWH-Insolvenzforschungsstelle bündelt die...
Zur Seite
Europas populistische Parteien im Aufwind
Europas populistische Parteien im Aufwind: die dunkle Seite von Globalisierung und technologischem Wandel? ...
Zur Seite
CompNet Database
The CompNet Competitiveness Database The Competitiveness Research Network (CompNet)...
Zur Seite
Müller ref
Ausgewählte Publikationen ...
Zur Seite
Explaining Wage Losses After Job Displacement: Employer Size and Lost Firm Wage Premiums
Daniel Fackler, Steffen Müller, Jens Stegmaier
Journal of the European Economic Association,
Nr. 5,
2021
Abstract
This paper investigates whether wage losses after job displacement are driven by lost firm wage premiums or worker productivity depreciations. We estimate losses in wages and firm wage premiums, the latter being measured as firm effects from a two-way fixed-effects wage decomposition. Using new German administrative data on displacements from small and large employers, we find that wage losses are to a large extent explained by losses in firm wage premiums and that premium losses are largely permanent. We show that losses strongly increase with pre-displacement employer size. This provides an explanation for large and persistent wage losses reported in previous displacement studies typically focusing on large employers, only.
Artikel Lesen
06.10.2021 • 24/2021
IWH-Insolvenztrend: Insolvenzzahlen bleiben niedrig, mehr Industriejobs von Insolvenz betroffen
Die Anzahl der Insolvenzen von Personen- und Kapitalgesellschaften verharrte im September in der Nähe der historischen Tiefststände. Die Zahl der betroffenen Jobs im Verarbeitenden Gewerbe stieg dagegen deutlich an. Das Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung Halle (IWH) liefert mit dem IWH-Insolvenztrend ein monatliches Update zum bundesweiten Insolvenzgeschehen.
Steffen Müller
Pressemitteilung lesen