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Are Specific Skills an Obstacle to Labour Market Adjustment? Theory and an Application to the EU Enlargement

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  • Lamo, Ana
  • Wasmer, Etienne
  • Messina, Julián

Abstract

Countries react differently to large labour reallocation shocks. Some minimize the costs by adapting rapidly, while others suffer long periods of costly adjustment, typically high and persistent unemployment and temporary output losses. We argue that the existence of large amounts of specific human capital slows down the transitions and makes them costly. We illustrate this point by building a theoretical framework in which young agents' careers are heavily determined by the type of initial education, and analyze the transition to a new steady-state after a sectoral demand shift. In the absence of mobility, it can take as much as a generation for the economy to absorb the shock. An interesting case study is the European Union enlargement, which led to a modernization of many sectors in Eastern countries and to a fast decline of traditional industries and agriculture. Using labour force data from a large economy with rigid labour markets, Poland, and a small open economy with increased flexibility, Estonia, we document our main claim, namely that specialized education reduces workers' mobility and hence their ability to cope with economic changes. We find that holding a vocational degree is associated with much longer unemployment duration spells, relatively large wage penalties when changing jobs and higher likelihood of leaving activity for elder workers. Quantitative exercises suggest that the over-specialization of the labour force in Poland led to much higher and persistent unemployment compared to Estonia during the period of EU enlargement. Traditional labour market institutions (wage rigidity and employment protection) increased, but to a much lesser extent, the unemployment gap.

Suggested Citation

  • Lamo, Ana & Wasmer, Etienne & Messina, Julián, 2006. "Are Specific Skills an Obstacle to Labour Market Adjustment? Theory and an Application to the EU Enlargement," CEPR Discussion Papers 5503, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5503
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    Cited by:

    1. Henry Ohlsson & Donald Storrie, 2012. "Long‐term effects of public policy for displaced workers in Sweden," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 33(5), pages 514-538, August.
    2. Alain Delacroix & Etienne Wasmer, 2007. "Job and Workers Flows in Europe and the US: Specific Skills or Employment Protection?," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-01053160, HAL.
    3. Wesselbaum, Dennis, 2011. "Sector-specific productivity shocks in a matching model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 2674-2682.
    4. Lamo, Ana & Messina, Julián & Wasmer, Etienne, 2011. "Are specific skills an obstacle to labor market adjustment?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 240-256, April.
    5. Vitale, Paolo, 2006. "A Market Microstructure Analysis of Foreign Exchange Intervention," CEPR Discussion Papers 5468, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Robalo Marques, Carlos & Dias, Daniel & Santos Silva, João M. C., 2006. "Measuring the importance of the uniform nonsynchronization hypothesis," Working Paper Series 606, European Central Bank.
    7. Alexandre Janiak, 2008. "Mobility in Europe - Why it is low, the bottlenecks, and the policy solutions," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 340, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    8. Wesselbaum, Dennis, 2015. "Sectoral labor market effects of fiscal spending," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 19-35.
    9. Bert Minne & Marc van der Steeg & Dinand Webbink, 2008. "Skill gaps in the EU: role for education and training policies," CPB Document 162, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    10. Julia Bock-Schappelwein & Jürgen Janger & Andreas Reinstaller, 2012. "Bildung 2025 – Die Rolle von Bildung in der österreichischen Wirtschaft," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 45200, July.
    11. Etienne Wasmer, 2006. "General versus Specific Skills in Labor Markets with Search Frictions and Firing Costs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(3), pages 811-831, June.
    12. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/9938 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Lamo, Ana & Messina, Julián, 2010. "Formal education, mismatch and wages after transition: Assessing the impact of unobserved heterogeneity using matching estimators," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 1086-1099, December.
    14. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/9938 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Jakob von Weizsäcker & Etienne Wasmer, 2007. "A better Globalisation Fund," Policy Briefs 36, Bruegel.
    16. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/9938 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Mondschean, Thomas & Oppenheimer, Margaret, 2011. "Regional Long-term and Short-term Unemployment and Education in Transition: The Case of Poland," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 23-48.
    18. Thirunaukarasu Subramaniam & Ahmad Zubaidi Baharumshah, 2011. "Unemployment And Speed Of Adjustment In Asean-3 Economies: A Cointegration Analysis," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 56(03), pages 327-347.
    19. Ohlsson, Henry & Storrie, Donald, 2007. "Long term effects of public policy for displaced workers in Sweden – shipyard workers in the West and miners in the North," Working Paper Series 2007:19, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Matching; Labour reallocation; Specific skills; Enlargement; Vocational education; Unemployment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General

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