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Job Search and Earnings Mobility

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  • David Turchick

Abstract

Measures of social mobility provide an extra dimension for testing job search models. The present note tests the dynamic model in [Acemoglu, D., 1999. Changes in unemployment and wage inequality: an alternative theory and some evidence. American Economic Review 89, 1259-1278] with respect to Fields’ mobility-as-an-equalizer-of-longer-term-incomes index. The 1980s in the U.S. were not only a period of raising inequality, but also one of longer-term earnings becoming even more unequal than short-term earnings. We establish that this pattern of social mobility (i) is consistent with Acemoglu's argument pointing to a qualitative change in job composition during this period, and (ii) would not arise had a qualitative change in labor markets equilibrium not taken place.

Suggested Citation

  • David Turchick, 2014. "Job Search and Earnings Mobility," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2014_16, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    • Handle: RePEc:spa:wpaper:2014wpecon16
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    social mobility; longer-term incomes; job search; skill-biased technical change; United States;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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