Luojia Hu (Northwestern University) Christopher Taber (Northwestern University)
Abstract
In a seminal paper, Gibbons and Katz (1991) develop and empirically test an asymmetric information model of the labor market. The model predicts that wage losses following displacement should be larger for layoffs than for plant closings, which was borne out by data from the Displaced Workers Survey (DWS). In this paper, we take advantage of many more years of DWS data to examine how the difference in wage losses across plant closings and layoffs varies with race and gender. We find that the differences between white males and the other groups are striking and complex. The “lemons effect” of layoffs holds for white males, as in the Gibbons-Katz model, but not for the other three demographic groups (white females, black females, and black males). These three all experience a greater decline in earnings at plant closings than at layoffs. This results from two reinforcing effects. First, plant closings have substantially more negative effects on minorities than on whites. Second, layoffs seem to have more negative consequences for white men than the other groups. These findings suggest that the Gibbons-Katz asymmetric information model is not sufficient to explain all of the data. We augment the model with heterogeneous human capital and show that this model can explain the findings. We also provide some additional evidence suggestive that both asymmetric information and heterogeneous human capital are important. In support of both explanations, we demonstrate that the racial and gender effects are surprisingly robust to region, industry, and occupation controls. To look at the asymmetric information, we make use of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which induced employers to lay off “protected” workers in mass layoffs rather than fire them for cause. As a result, relative to whites, a layoff would be a more negative signal for blacks after 1991 than before. If information is important, this would in turn imply that blacks experience a relatively larger loss in earnings at layoffs after 1991 than prior; and that’s what we find in the data. In addition, as further evidence for heterogeneous human capital, we document for the first time in the literature that the two types of layoffs reported in the DWS data, namely layoffs due to “slack work” and “position abolished,” have very different features when compared to plant closings. Finally, we simulate our model and show that it can match the data.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in its series Staff Working Papers with number
07-136.
Length: Date of creation: Jun 2007 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:upj:weupjo:07-136
Contact details of provider: Postal: 300 S. Westnedge Ave. Kalamazoo, MI 49007 USA Phone: 1-616-343-5541 Fax: 1-616-343-7310 Web page: http://www.upjohninstitute.org
References listed on IDEAS 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.:
Gibbons, Robert & Katz, Lawrence F, 1991.
"Layoffs and Lemons,"
Journal of Labor Economics,
University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(4), pages 351-80, October.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Other versions:
Robert Gibbons & Lawrence Katz, 1989.
"Layoffs and Lemons,"
Working Papers
629, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
[Downloadable!]
Gibbons, R. & Katz, L.F., 1989.
"Layoffs And Lemons,"
Working papers
531, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
Robert Gibbons & Lawrence Katz, 1991.
"Layoffs and Lemons,"
NBER Working Papers
2968, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Altonji, Joseph G. & Blank, Rebecca M., 1999.
"Race and gender in the labor market,"
Handbook of Labor Economics,
in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 48, pages 3143-3259
Elsevier.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Other versions: