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Bad Jobs and Low Inflation

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  • Renato Faccini
  • Leonardo Melosi

Abstract

We study a model in which firms compete to retain and attract workers searching on the job. A drop in the rate of on-the-job search makes such wage competition less likely, reducing expected labor costs and lowering inflation. This model explains why inflation has remained subdued over the last decade, which is a conundrum for general equilibrium models and Phillips curves. Key to this success is the observed slowdown in the recovery of the employment-to-employment transition rate in the last five years, which is interpreted by the model as a decline in the share of employed workers searching for a job. This fall in the on-the-job search rate is corroborated by the micro data.

Suggested Citation

  • Renato Faccini & Leonardo Melosi, 2020. "Bad Jobs and Low Inflation," Working Paper Series WP 2020-09, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedhwp:87688
    DOI: 10.21033/wp-2020-09
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Bad Jobs and Low Inflation
      by Christian Zimmermann in NEP-DGE blog on 2019-10-19 20:21:04

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    Cited by:

    1. Richard A. Ashley & Randall J. Verbrugge., 2006. "Mis-Specification in Phillips Curve Regressions: Quantifying Frequency Dependence in This Relationship While Allowing for Feedback," Working Papers e06-11, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of Economics.
    2. R. Jason Faberman & Andreas I. Mueller & Ayşegül Şahin & Giorgio Topa, 2020. "The Shadow Margins of Labor Market Slack," NBER Working Papers 26852, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    misallocation; cyclical; labor market slack; Inflation; job ladder; Phillips curve;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C78 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation

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