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Labor market heterogeneity and the aggregate matching function

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Abstract

The matching function -a key building block in models of labor market frictions- implies that the job finding rate depends only on labor market tightness. We estimate such a matching function and find that the relation, although remarkably stable over 1967-2007, broke down spectacularly after 2007. We argue that labor market heterogeneities are not fully captured by the standard matching function, but that a generalized matching function that explicitly takes into account worker heterogeneity and market segmentation is fully consistent with the behavior of the job finding rate. The standard matching function can break down when, as in the Great Recession, the average characteristics of the unemployed change too much, or when dispersion in labor market conditions -the extent to which some labor markets fare worse than others- increases too much.

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File URL: https://econ-papers.upf.edu/papers/1395.pdf
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Paper provided by Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra in its series Economics Working Papers with number 1395.

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Date of creation: Oct 2010
Date of revision: Sep 2013
Handle: RePEc:upf:upfgen:1395
Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.econ.upf.edu/

Keywords: job finding; aggregate; composition; dispersion;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers
  • 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

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  1. Daniel Borowczyk-Martins & Gregory Jolivet & Fabien Postel-Vinay, 2013. "Accounting For Endogeneity in Matching Function Estimation," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 16(3), pages 440-451, July.
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  3. Sam Schulhofer-Wohl & Robert Hall, 2014. "Measuring Matching Efficiency with Heterogeneous Jobseekers," 2014 Meeting Papers 368, Society for Economic Dynamics.
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  7. Petrongolo, Barbara, 2001. "Reemployment Probabilities and Returns to Matching," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(3), pages 716-741, July.
  8. Layard, Richard & Nickell, Stephen & Jackman, Richard, 2005. "Unemployment: Macroeconomic Performance and the Labour Market," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199279173, April.
  9. Christian Merkl & Thijs van Rens, 2011. "Selective hiring and welfare analysis in labor market models," Economics Working Papers 1277, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Jan 2012.
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  11. Christopher J. Erceg & Andrew T. Levin, 2014. "Labor Force Participation and Monetary Policy in the Wake of the Great Recession," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 46(S2), pages 3-49, October.
  12. Chang-Tai Hsieh & Peter J. Klenow, 2009. "Misallocation and Manufacturing TFP in China and India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 124(4), pages 1403-1448.
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  14. Benedikt Herz & Thijs van Rens, 2011. "Structural unemployment," Economics Working Papers 1276, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
  15. Robert Shimer, 2012. "Reassessing the Ins and Outs of Unemployment," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 15(2), pages 127-148, April.
  16. Michael W. L. Elsby & Bart Hobijn & Aysegul Sahin, 2010. "The Labor Market in the Great Recession," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 41(1 (Spring), pages 1-69.
  17. Christopher A. Pissarides, 2000. "Equilibrium Unemployment Theory, 2nd Edition," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262161877.
  18. Baker, Michael, 1992. "Unemployment Duration: Compositional Effects and Cyclical Variability," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(1), pages 313-321, March.
  19. Stephen W. Salant, 1977. "Search Theory and Duration Data: A Theory of Sorts," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 91(1), pages 39-57.
  20. Daniel Aaronson & Jonathan Davis & Luojia Hu, 2012. "Explaining the decline in the U.S. labor force participation rate," Chicago Fed Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, issue Mar.
  21. Willem Van Zandweghe, 2012. "Interpreting the recent decline in labor force participation," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, issue Q I, pages 5-34.
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