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The Mobility of Displaced Workers: How the Local Industry Mix Affects Job Search Strategies

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  • Frank Neffke

    (Center for International Development at Harvard University)

  • Anne Otto
  • Cesar A. Hidalgo

Abstract

Establishment closures leave many workers unemployed. Based on employment histories of 20 million German workers, we find that workers often cope with their displacement by moving to different regions and industries. However, which of these coping strategies is chosen depends on the local industry mix. A large local presence of predisplacement or related industries strongly reduces the rate at which workers leave the region. Moreover, our findings suggest that a large local presence of the predisplacement industry induces workers to shift search efforts toward this industry, reducing the spatial scope of search for jobs in alternative industries and vice versa.

Suggested Citation

  • Frank Neffke & Anne Otto & Cesar A. Hidalgo, 2016. "The Mobility of Displaced Workers: How the Local Industry Mix Affects Job Search Strategies," Growth Lab Working Papers 69, Harvard's Growth Lab.
    • Handle: RePEc:glh:wpfacu:69
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    8. Caliendo, Marco & Künn, Steffen & Mahlstedt, Robert, 2017. "Mobility Assistance Programmes for Unemployed Workers, Job Search Behaviour and Labour Market Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 11169, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Germany; Economic Growth; Immigration; Labor Economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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