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Task assignment over the business cycle

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  • Paul J. Devereux

Abstract

In this article, I evaluate the hypothesis that firms respond to negative demand shocks by assigning workers to tasks that require less skill than the tasks they normally carry out. Using changes in employment in state-industry cells as a measure of demand conditions facing individual firms, I provide evidence in favor of the hypothesis. Furthermore, the skill requirements of the tasks carried out by workers are procyclical. The results are consistent with a specific capital model where employers move workers between tasks so that layoffs are concentrated on workers with low levels of firm-specific human capital.

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  • Paul J. Devereux, 2000. "Task assignment over the business cycle," Open Access publications 10197/313, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucn:oapubs:10197/313
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    Cited by:

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    3. Illoong Kwon & Eva Meyersson Milgrom & Seiwoon Hwang, 2010. "Cohort Effects in Promotions and Wages: Evidence from Sweden and the United States," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 45(3).
    4. Thomas Åstebro & Jing Chen & Peter Thompson, 2011. "Stars and Misfits: Self-Employment and Labor Market Frictions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(11), pages 1999-2017, November.
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    6. Beatrice Brunner & Andreas Kuhn, 2014. "The impact of labor market entry conditions on initial job assignment and wages," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(3), pages 705-738, July.
    7. Beatrice Brunner & Andreas Kuhn, 2010. "The Impact of Labor Market Entry Condition on Initial Job Assignment, Human Capital Accumulation, and Wages," NRN working papers 2010-15, The Austrian Center for Labor Economics and the Analysis of the Welfare State, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    8. Cathy Ning & Stephen Sapp, 2009. "Segmentation across International Equity, Bond, and Foreign Exchange Markets," Working Papers 010, Ryerson University, Department of Economics.
    9. Kirsten Daniel & W. S. Siebert, 2005. "Does employment protection reduce the demand for unskilled labour?," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(2), pages 197-222.
    10. Summerfield, Fraser, 2014. "Labor Market Conditions, Skill Requirements and Education Mismatch," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2014-19, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 28 Apr 2014.
    11. Fraser Summerfield & Ioannis Theodossiou, 2017. "The Effects Of Macroeconomic Conditions At Graduation On Overeducation," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(3), pages 1370-1387, July.
    12. Leombruni, Roberto & Razzolini, Tiziano & Serti, Francesco, 2015. "The Hidden Cost of Labor Market Entry During Recession: Unemployment Rate at Entry and Occupational Injury Risk of Young Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 8968, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Paul J. Devereux, 2004. "Cyclical Quality Adjustment in the Labor Market," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 70(3), pages 600-615, January.
    14. Ludsteck, Johannes & Haupt, Harald, 2007. "An Empirical Test of the Reder Hypothesis," Discussion Papers in Economics 1397, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    15. Ariga, Kenn, 2006. "Horizontal transfer, vertical promotion, and evolution of firm organization," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 20-49, March.
    16. Sherif Khalifa, 2009. "Heterogeneous Workers and Occupations: Inequality, Unemployment, and Crowding Out," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 75(4), pages 1141-1164, April.
    17. Abe, Yukiko, 2012. "A cohort analysis of male labor supply in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 23-43.
    18. Beartice Brunner & Andreas Kuhn, 2009. "To Shape the Future: How Labor Market Entry Conditions Affect Individuals’s Long-Run Wage Profiles," NRN working papers 2009-29, The Austrian Center for Labor Economics and the Analysis of the Welfare State, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    19. Beatrice Brunner & Andreas Kuhn, 2009. "To shape the future: How labor market entry conditions affect individuals' long-run wage profiles," IEW - Working Papers 457, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    20. Verhaest, D. & van der Velden, R.K.W., 2010. "Cross-country differences in graduate overeducation and its persistence," ROA Research Memorandum 007, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    21. Brunner, Beatrice & Kuhn, Andreas, 2009. "To Shape the Future: How Labor Market Entry Conditions Affect Individuals' Long-Run Wage Profiles," IZA Discussion Papers 4601, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    22. Rinaldi, Gustavo, 2007. "Redundancies in an industry in transition: who gets fired and why? Evidence from one consumer-goods industry in Russia," MPRA Paper 21940, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    23. Ludsteck, Johannes & Haupt, Harry, 2007. "An Empirical Test of Reder Competition and Specific Human Capital Against Standard Wage Competition," Discussion Papers in Economics 1977, University of Munich, Department of Economics.

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