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The Mobility of Displaced Workers: How the Local Industry Mix Affects Job Search Strategies

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  • Frank Neffke

    (Center for International Development at Harvard University)

  • Anne Otto
  • Cesar A. Hidalgo

Abstract

Establishment closures leave many workers unemployed. Based on employment histories of 20 million German workers, we find that workers often cope with their displacement by moving to different regions and industries. However, which of these coping strategies is chosen depends on the local industry mix. A large local presence of predisplacement or related industries strongly reduces the rate at which workers leave the region. Moreover, our findings suggest that a large local presence of the predisplacement industry induces workers to shift search efforts toward this industry, reducing the spatial scope of search for jobs in alternative industries and vice versa.

Suggested Citation

  • Frank Neffke & Anne Otto & Cesar A. Hidalgo, 2016. "The Mobility of Displaced Workers: How the Local Industry Mix Affects Job Search Strategies," CID Working Papers 71, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    • Handle: RePEc:cid:wpfacu:71
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    4. Caliendo, Marco & Künn, Steffen & Mahlstedt, Robert, 2017. "Mobility Assistance Programmes for Unemployed Workers, Job Search Behaviour and Labour Market Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 11169, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Ron Boschma & Riccardo Cappelli & Anet Weterings, 2017. "Labour mobility, skill-relatedness and plant survival over the industry life cycle: Evidence from new Dutch plants," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1731, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Dec 2017.
    6. Vinko Mustra & Blanka Simundic & Zvonimir Kulis, 2017. "Efectos de la especialización inteligente en la resiliencia económica regional en la UE," Revista de Estudios Regionales, Universidades Públicas de Andalucía, vol. 3, pages 175-195.
    7. Roberto Antonietti & Sandro Montresor, 2019. "Regional diversification patterns and Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Italian regions," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1928, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Oct 2019.
    8. Klimanov, Vladimir (Климанов, Владимир) & Kazakova, Sofia (Казакова, Софья) & Mikhaylova, Anna (Михайлова, Анна), 2018. "Regional Resilience: Theoretical Basics of the Question [Региональная Резилиентность: Теоретические Основы Постановки Вопроса]," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 6, pages 164-187, December.
    9. Zsolt Csafordi & Laszlo Lorincz & Balazs Lengyel & Karoly Miklos Kiss, 2016. "Productivity spillovers through labor flows: The effect of productivity gap, foreign-owned firms, and skill-relatedness," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 1610, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    10. Lars-Fredrik Andersson & Therese Danley & Rikard Eriksson & Martin Henning, 2020. "Workers’ participation in regional economic change following establishment closure," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 589-604, February.
    11. Nyström, Kristina, 2016. "Regional resilience to displacement: Evidence from Panel and Quantile regressions," Ratio Working Papers 276, The Ratio Institute.
    12. Hervé, Justine, 2023. "Specialists or generalists? Cross-industry mobility and wages," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    13. Zsolt Csáfordi & László Lőrincz & Balázs Lengyel & Károly Miklós Kiss, 2020. "Productivity spillovers through labor flows: productivity gap, multinational experience and industry relatedness," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 86-121, February.
    14. Adam Whittle, 2017. "Local and Non-Local Knowledge Typologies: Technological Complexity in the Irish Knowledge Space," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1728, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Nov 2017.
    15. Kiss, Károly Miklós & Lengyel, Balázs & Lőrincz, László & Elekes, Zoltán & Csáfordi, Zsolt, 2019. "Az iparágak közti hasonlóság mérésének hálózati módszerei és relevanciájuk a gazdaságfejlesztésben [Network methods for measuring inter-industrial similarity and the relevance of them to economic d," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(1), pages 22-52.
    16. Miguel R. Guevara & Dominik Hartmann & Manuel Aristarán & Marcelo Mendoza & César A. Hidalgo, 2016. "The research space: using career paths to predict the evolution of the research output of individuals, institutions, and nations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(3), pages 1695-1709, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Germany; Economic Growth; Immigration; Labor Economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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