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Dream jobs

Author

Listed:
  • Mion, Giordano
  • Opromolla, Luca David
  • Ottaviano, Gianmarco I. P.

Abstract

Understanding why certain jobs are ‘better’ than others and what implications they have for a worker’s career is clearly an important but still relatively unexplored question. We provide both a theoretical framework and a number of empirical results that help distinguishing ‘good’ from ‘bad’ jobs in terms of their impact on a worker’s lifetime wage income profile through wage jumps occurring upon changing job (‘static effects’) or through increases in the wage growth rate (‘dynamic effects’). We find that the distinction between internationally active firms and domestic firms is a meaningful empirical dividing line between employers providing ‘good’ and ‘bad’ jobs. First, in internationally active firms the experience-wage profile is much steeper than in domestic firms, especially for managers as opposed to blue-collar workers. Second, the higher lifetime wage income for managers in internationally active firms relies on the stronger accumulation of experience that these firms allow for and on the (almost) perfect portability of the accumulated dynamic wage gains to other firms. Static effects are instead much more important for blue-collar workers. Finally, the distinction between internationally active and domestic firms is relevant also at a more aggregate level to explain cross-sectional differences in wages among workers and spatial differences in average wages across regions within a country.

Suggested Citation

  • Mion, Giordano & Opromolla, Luca David & Ottaviano, Gianmarco I. P., 2020. "Dream jobs," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 108476, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:108476
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/108476/
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    Other versions of this item:

    • Giordano Mion & Luca David Opromolla & Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano, 2020. "Dream Jobs," Working Papers REM 2020/0138, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    • Mion, Giordano & Opromolla, Luca David & Ottaviano, Gianmarco, 2020. "Dream Jobs," IZA Discussion Papers 13471, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Giordano Mion & Luca David Opromolla & Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, 2020. "Dream jobs," CEP Discussion Papers dp1705, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    • Giordano Mion & Luca David Opromolla & Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano, 2020. "Dream Jobs," CESifo Working Paper Series 8430, CESifo.
    • Luca David Opromolla & Giordano Mion, 2020. "Dream jobs," Working Papers w202012, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    • Ottaviano, Gianmarco & Mion, Giordano & Opromolla, Luca David, 2020. "Dream Jobs," CEPR Discussion Papers 15027, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Luca David Opromolla & Giordano Mion & Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano, 2020. "Dream Jobs," GEE Papers 0153, Gabinete de Estratégia e Estudos, Ministério da Economia, revised Jul 2020.

    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    good jobs; international experience; managers; sorting; wage growth; wage premium;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
    • M12 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Personnel Management; Executives; Executive Compensation
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions

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