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Assortative labor matching, city size, and the education level of workers

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  • Leknes, Stefan
  • Rattsø, Jørn
  • Stokke, Hildegunn E.

Abstract

We investigate the heterogeneity of assortative labor matching with respect to geography, skills, and tasks. Our contribution is to separate plant quality by education level and occupation tasks using the AKM-model. We introduce a geology-related instrument to analyze the city effect and address limited mobility bias. Using rich administrative worker-plant dataset for Norway, we show that matching of the college educated have a strong city effect. The IV estimates indicate that a doubling of city size increases the correlation between worker and plant quality by 9 percentage points. A wage decomposition shows that matching accounts for 22% of the urban wage premium adjusted for sorting. In terms of occupations, better matching in cities is observed only for non-routine abstract tasks.

Suggested Citation

  • Leknes, Stefan & Rattsø, Jørn & Stokke, Hildegunn E., 2022. "Assortative labor matching, city size, and the education level of workers," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:96:y:2022:i:c:s0166046222000461
    DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2022.103806
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    1. Braunschweig, Luisa & Dauth, Wolfgang & Roth, Duncan, 2024. "Job Mobility and Assortative Matching," IAB-Discussion Paper 202411, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    2. Simon, Curtis J., 2025. "Complexity and colocation of the college-educated: Sort of complements," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    3. Stefan Leknes & Jorn Rattso & Hildegunn E Stokke, 2025. "Intangible capital and agglomeration economies," Working Paper Series 20425, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
    4. Jørn Rattsø & Hildegunn E Stokke, 2024. "Public sector wage compression and wage inequality: gender and geographic heterogeneity," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 76(3), pages 722-740.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • 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
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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