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Job Search Behavior among the Employed and Non-Employed

Author

Listed:
  • Faberman, Jason

    (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago)

  • Mueller, Andreas I.

    (University of Zurich)

  • Sahin, Aysegül

    (Princeton University)

  • Topa, Giorgio

    (Federal Reserve Bank of New York)

Abstract

Using a unique new survey, we study the relationship between search effort and outcomes for employed and non-employed workers. We find that the employed fare better than the non-employed in job search: they receive more offers per application and are offered higher pay even after controlling for observable characteristics. We use an on-the-job search model with endogenous search effort and find that unobserved heterogeneity explains less than a third of the residual wage offer differential. The model calibrated using various moments from our survey provides a good fit to the data and implies a reasonable flow value of unemployment.

Suggested Citation

  • Faberman, Jason & Mueller, Andreas I. & Sahin, Aysegül & Topa, Giorgio, 2017. "Job Search Behavior among the Employed and Non-Employed," IZA Discussion Papers 10960, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10960
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    wage dispersion; search effort; on-the-job search; unemployment; job search;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J29 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Other
    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General

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