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Local labor market size and qualification mismatch

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  • Francesco Berlingieri

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of the size of the local labor market on skill mismatch. Using survey data for Germany, I find that workers in large cities are both less likely to be overqualified for their job and to work in a different field than the one for which they trained. Different empirical strategies are employed to account for the potential sorting of talented workers into more urbanized areas. Results on individuals who have never moved away from the place in which they grew up and fixed effects estimates obtaining identification through regional migrants suggest that sorting does not fully explain the existing differences in qualification mismatch across areas. This provides evidence of the existence of agglomeration economies through better matches. However, lower qualification mismatch in larger cities is found to explain at best a small part of the urban wage premium.

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  • Francesco Berlingieri, 2019. "Local labor market size and qualification mismatch," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(6), pages 1261-1286.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jecgeo:v:19:y:2019:i:6:p:1261-1286.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jeg/lby045
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    Cited by:

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    3. Yoann Morin & Lionel Védrine, 2022. "Do agglomeration economies affect firms’ returns to training? Evidence based on French industrial firms," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(5), pages 1135-1156, October.
    4. Eloiza Regina Ferreira de Almeida & Veneziano C. Araujo & Solange Gonçalves, 2024. "Urban wage premium in a labor market with informality," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2024_25, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP), revised 14 Nov 2024.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agglomeration; labor matching; qualification mismatch; urban wage premium;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • 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
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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