Job Search Intensity and Wage Rigidity in Business Cycles

This paper examines the job search behavior of unemployed workers over the business cycle. The paper first constructs a standard search and matching model with endogenous search efforts, wage rigidity, and a generalized matching function. Contrary to the existing literature, the proposed model generates both procyclical and countercyclical search intensity, depending on the degree of wage rigidity and the elasticity parameter of the matching function. The paper then 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.