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Employment Adjustment in German Firms

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  • Jung, Sven

Abstract

Using a representative establishment data set for Germany, we show that, in line with the existing literature for several countries, fi rms' adjustment costs for employment are characterized by a fixed and convex functional form. Furthermore, they are asymmetric with dismissal costs exceeding hiring costs. An analysis of firms' adjustment in the period 1996-2010 also indicates that adjustment behavior has changed over time. Comparing the employment adjustment in the two observed business cycles comprising the years 1996-2003 and 2004-2010, we fi nd that the adjustment speed was higher in the second business cycle indicating that adjustment costs have fallen in recent years.

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  • Jung, Sven, 2013. "Employment Adjustment in German Firms," VfS Annual Conference 2013 (Duesseldorf): Competition Policy and Regulation in a Global Economic Order 79696, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79696
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    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand

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