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Measuring Labor Market Power Two Ways

Author

Listed:
  • José Azar
  • Ioana Marinescu
  • Marshall Steinbaum

Abstract

We compute the "applications elasticity" as a proxy for firm-level labor supply elasticity by regressing the applications to a given job on the posted wage. The average applications elasticity in our data is 0.42. We then relate our elasticity estimates to concentration in labor markets defined by six-digit SOC occupations and commuting zone. We show a robust negative relationship between the two. Applications elasticity is near zero for all but the most densely populated labor markets, suggesting that 80 percent of the workforce works in labor markets where employers exercise significant monopsony power.

Suggested Citation

  • José Azar & Ioana Marinescu & Marshall Steinbaum, 2019. "Measuring Labor Market Power Two Ways," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 109, pages 317-321, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:apandp:v:109:y:2019:p:317-21
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20191068
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Bas Scheer & Wiljan van den Berge & Maarten Goos & Alan Manning & Anna Salomons, 2022. "Alternative Work Arrangements and Worker Outcomes: Evidence from Payrolling," CPB Discussion Paper 435, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    2. Albert Jan Hummel, 2021. "Monopsony Power, Income Taxation and Welfare," CESifo Working Paper Series 9128, CESifo.
    3. Duch-Brown, Néstor & Gomez-Herrera, Estrella & Mueller-Langer, Frank & Tolan, Songül, 2022. "Market power and artificial intelligence work on online labour markets," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(3).
    4. Azar, José & Marinescu, Ioana & Steinbaum, Marshall & Taska, Bledi, 2020. "Concentration in US labor markets: Evidence from online vacancy data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    5. Jaumandreu, Jordi & Doraszelski, Ulrich, 2019. "Using Cost Minimization to Estimate Markups," CEPR Discussion Papers 14114, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Laszlo Goerke & Michael Neugart, 2021. "Social preferences, monopsony and government intervention," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(2), pages 864-891, May.
    7. Marinescu, Ioana & Ouss, Ivan & Pape, Louis-Daniel, 2021. "Wages, hires, and labor market concentration," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 506-605.
    8. Albert Jan Hummel, 2021. "Monopsony power, income taxation and welfare," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 21-051/VI, Tinbergen Institute.
    9. Elizabeth Weber Handwerker & Matthew Dey, 2024. "Some facts about concentrated labor markets in the United States," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(2), pages 132-151, April.
    10. José Azar & Emiliano Huet & Ioana Marinescu & Bledi Taska & Till von, 2024. "Minimum Wage Employment Effects and Labour Market Concentration," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 91(4), pages 1843-1883.
    11. Kambayashi, Ryo & Kawaguchi, Kohei & Otani, Suguru, 2024. "Decomposing Recruitment Elasticity in Job Matching," SocArXiv wavdn, Center for Open Science.
    12. Chen Yeh & Claudia Macaluso & Brad Hershbein, 2022. "Monopsony in the US Labor Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(7), pages 2099-2138, July.
    13. Giannakopoulos, Nicholas & Nicolitsas, Daphne, 2022. "Employers' associations and trade unions: co-existence or more?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1140, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    14. KAMBAYASHI, Ryo & KAWAGUCHI, Kohei & OTANI, Suguru, 2023. "Estimating Recruitment Elasticity in the Multi-stage and Bilateral Job Matching Process," Discussion Paper Series 746, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    15. Langella, Monica & Manning, Alan Patrick, 2021. "The measure of monopsony," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113925, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. Arindrajit Dube & Attila Lindner, 2021. "City Limits: What Do Local-Area Minimum Wages Do?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 27-50, Winter.
    17. Bassanini, Andrea & Batut, Cyprien & Caroli, Eve, 2023. "Labor Market Concentration and Wages: Incumbents versus New Hires," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    18. Alan Manning, 2021. "Monopsony in Labor Markets: A Review," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 74(1), pages 3-26, January.
    19. Cazzuffi, Chiara & Pereira-López, Mariana & Rosales, Irving & Soloaga, Isidro, 2023. "Monopsony Power and Labor Income Inequality in Mexico," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 13044, Inter-American Development Bank.
    20. Vitor Costa, 2023. "Local Labor Market Effects of Mergers and Acquisitions in Developing Countries: Evidence from Brazil," Papers 2306.08797, arXiv.org.
    21. Oriol Carbonell-Nicolau, 2024. "Natural monopoly revisited," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 66(1), pages 52-61, August.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J42 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Monopsony; Segmented Labor Markets

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