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The importance of employer-to-employer flows in the U.S. labor market

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Author Info
Bruce C. Fallick
Charles A. Fleischman

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Abstract

In order to measure the flexibility of the labor market, evaluate the job-worker matching process, and model business-cycle dynamics, economists have studied the flows of workers across the labor market states of employment, unemployment, and not in the labor force. One important flow that has been poorly measured is the movement of workers from one employer to another without any significant intervening period of nonemployment. This paper exploits the "dependent interviewing" techniques used in the Current Population Survey since 1994 to estimate such flows. We find that they are large, and their omission significantly understates the degree of mobility in the labor market. In 1999, for example, on average more than 4,000,000 workers changed employers from one month to the next, about the same number as left the labor force from employment and more than twice the number that moved from employment to unemployment. Close to half of the new jobs started in 1999 represented employer changes, as did close to half of the separations. Consistent with previous studies of younger workers, teenagers exhibit the highest rates of employer-switching, and the rate declines through about age 40. However, even among prime-aged workers, about 2 percent change employers each month. Contrary to the implications of many business cycle models, we find no evidence that employer-to-employer flows are procyclical, at least not as the labor market tightened between 1994 and 2000. This finding raises questions about the ways in which stylized facts about labor market flows have been used.

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Paper provided by Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.) in its series Finance and Economics Discussion Series with number 2001-18.

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Date of creation: 2001
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Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2001-18

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Keywords: Labor market ; Labor turnover;

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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Melissa Bjelland & Bruce Fallick & John Haltiwanger & Erika McEntarfer, 2007. "Employer-to-employer flows in the United States: estimates using linked employer-employee data," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2007-30, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Nobuhiro Kiyotaki & Ricardo Lagos, 2006. "A model of job and worker flows," Staff Report 358, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Galindo-Rueda, Fernando, 2002. "Endogenous Wage and Capital Dispersion, On-the-Job Search and the Matching Technology," IZA Discussion Papers 625, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  4. Fitzenberger, Bernd & Garloff, Alfred, 2005. "Descriptive Evidence on Labor Market Transitions and the Wage Structure in Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 05-95, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  5. repec:bep:eaptop:v:5:y:2005:i:1:p:1252-1252 is not listed on IDEAS
  6. Giovanni L. Violante & Per Krusell & Andreas Hornstein, 2006. "Frictional wage dispersion in search models: a quantitative assessment," Working Paper 06-07, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Garloff, Alfred, 2003. "Lohndispersion und Arbeitslosigkeit: Neuere Ansätze in der Suchtheorie," ZEW Discussion Papers 03-60, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  8. Claudio Michelacci & Vincenzo Quadrini, 2005. "Financial Markets and Wages," NBER Working Papers 11050, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Leora Friedberg & Michael T. Owyang & Tara M. Sinclair, 2006. "Searching for better prospects: endogenizing falling job tenure and private pension coverage," Working Papers 2003-038, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  10. Robert E. Hall, 2005. "Employment Efficiency and Sticky Wages: Evidence from Flows in the Labor Market," NBER Working Papers 11183, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Claudio Michelacci & Josep Pijoan-Mas, 2007. "The Effects Of Labor Market Conditions On Working Time: The Us-Eu Experience," Working Papers wp2007_0705, CEMFI. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  12. Giuseppe Moscarini & Francis Vella, 2002. "Aggregate worker reallocation and occupational mobility in the United States: 1971-2000," IFS Working Papers W02/18, Institute for Fiscal Studies. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  13. Michael W. Klein & Scott Schuh & Robert K. Triest, 2002. "Job creation, job destruction, and international competition: a literature review," Working Papers 02-7, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. [Downloadable!]
  14. Hornstein, Andreas & Krusell, Per & Violante, Giovanni L, 2006. "Frictional Wage Dispersion in Search Models: A Quantitative Approach," CEPR Discussion Papers 5935, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Rasmus Lentz & Dale T. Mortensen, 2004. "Productivity Growth and Worker Reallocation: Theory and Evidence," CAM Working Papers 2004-12, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Centre for Applied Microeconometrics. [Downloadable!]
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