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Cyclical Upgrading of Labor and Employment Differences across Skill Groups

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  • Andri Chassamboulli

Abstract

This paper examines the cyclical properties of employment rates in a search and matching model that features heterogeneous workers and jobs. Firms can create vacancies for jobs that that require either a high- or a low-skill level. High-skill workers are best suited for high-skill jobs, but are also qualified for low-skill jobs, whereas low-skill workers are only qualified for low-skill jobs. My analysis highlights the importance of a vertical type of transitory skill-mismatch, which takes the form workers accepting jobs below their skill level to escape unemployment and upgrading by on-the-job search, in explaining why typically employment is lower and more procyclical at lower skill levels. I show that this feature makes low-skill vacancy creation more strongly procyclical than high-skill vacancy creation. The model is also consistent with important features of the labor market, such as a procyclical rate of job-to-job transitions and evidence that the educational levels of new hires within occupations are higher in recessions and lower in booms.

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  • Andri Chassamboulli, 2010. "Cyclical Upgrading of Labor and Employment Differences across Skill Groups," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 14-2010, University of Cyprus Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucy:cypeua:14-2010
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    Cited by:

    1. Garibaldi, Pietro & Gomes, Pedro Maia & Sopraseuth, Thepthida, 2020. "Output Costs of Education and Skill Mismatch," IZA Discussion Papers 12974, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Xiangbo Liu & Theodore Palivos & Xiaomeng Zhang, 2017. "Immigration, Skill Heterogeneity, And Qualification Mismatch," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(3), pages 1231-1264, July.
    3. George Liontos & Konstantinos Mavrigiannakis & Eugenia Vella, 2023. "The Macroeconomics of Skills Mismatch in the Presence of Emigration," DEOS Working Papers 2314, Athens University of Economics and Business.
    4. Cuadras-Morató Xavier & Mateos-Planas Xavier, 2013. "Overeducation and skill-biased technical change," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 1-18, September.
    5. Konstantinos Mavrigiannakis & Andreas Vasilatos & Eugenia Vella, 2023. "Fiscal Tightening and Skills Mismatch," DEOS Working Papers 2313, Athens University of Economics and Business.
    6. Stephen B. DeLoach & Mark Kurt, 2018. "On-the-Job Search, Mismatch and Worker Heterogeneity," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 219-233, June.
    7. Brendan Epstein, 2012. "Heterogeneous workers, optimal job seeking, and aggregate labor market dynamics," International Finance Discussion Papers 1053, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. Richard Holt, 2020. "The Costs of Mismatch," Edinburgh School of Economics Discussion Paper Series 298, Edinburgh School of Economics, University of Edinburgh.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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