Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we investigate occupational and industrial mobility of individuals over the 1969-1980 and 1981-1992 periods in the U.S. We find that workers changed both occupation and industry more frequently in the later period. Workers, on average, shifted occupation 1.8 times in the earlier period and 2.1 times in the later, and shifted industry 0.8 and 1.2 times, respectively. We also find that occupational and industry changes are associated with lower earnings, though this effect has lessened over time (from a 13 percent earnings reduction per occupational change for men in 1972-74 to a 9 percent loss in 1990-92). Our results also indicate that older workers are less likely to shift occupation or industry, as are better paid men but not better paid women.
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Paper provided by C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University in its series Working Papers with number
99-20.
Find related papers by JEL classification: J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Jacob Mincer & Boyan Jovanovic, 1982.
"Labor Mobility and Wages,"
NBER Working Papers
0357, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Other versions:
Jacob Mincer & Boyan Jovanovic, 1981.
"Labor Mobility and Wages,"
NBER Chapters,
in: Studies in Labor Markets, pages 21-64
National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!]