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Firm-Level Hiring Difficulties: Persistence, Business Cycle and Local Labour Market Influences

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  • Fabling, Richard

    (Independent Researcher)

  • Maré, David C.

    (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Trust)

Abstract

We examine the correlates of reported hiring difficulties at the firm level using linked employer-employee and panel survey data over 2005-2011, focussing on the relative influence of firm-level characteristics, persistence, the business cycle and local labour market liquidity. At both the aggregate and the firm-level, hiring difficulties eased after the onset of the Global Financial Crisis. Even in the presence of large cyclical changes in demand and labour market conditions, firm-level persistence is a dominant feature of the data, with one- and two-year lags of reported hiring difficulties both positively related to current difficulties. Firms paying higher wages are more likely to report difficulties when trying to hire skilled workers, while firms with more long tenure workers are less likely to report any difficulty hiring. Local labour market conditions appear unrelated to reported hiring difficulties.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabling, Richard & Maré, David C., 2013. "Firm-Level Hiring Difficulties: Persistence, Business Cycle and Local Labour Market Influences," IZA Discussion Papers 7534, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7534
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    Cited by:

    1. Richard Fabling & David C. Maré, 2016. "Firm-Level Hiring Difficulties: Persistence, Business Cycle And Local Labour Market Influences," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 179-210, June.
    2. Seamus McGuinness & Luis Ortiz, 2016. "Skill gaps in the workplace: measurement, determinants and impacts," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 253-278, May.
    3. Patel, Pankaj C., 2019. "Minimum wage and transition of non-employer firms intending to hire employees into employer firms: State-level evidence from the US," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 12(C).
    4. Birca Alic, 2023. "Assessing Organisations' Behaviour In The Tight Labour Market In The Republic Of Moldova," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 6, pages 23-31, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    hard-to-fill vacancies; local labour market; Global Financial Crisis; hiring difficulties;
    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
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • M51 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Firm Employment Decisions; Promotions

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