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Lost In Transition: The Costs And Consequences Of Sectoral Labour Adjustment

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  • Stephen Tapp

    (Queen's University)

Abstract

This paper uses an equilibrium search and matching model to study Canada’s sectoral labour adjustment in 2002–2006 during an increase in global commodity prices and exchange rate appreciation. I estimate economically significant adjustment costs for the aggregate economy in this episode and demonstrate that difficulty in transferring skills between jobs for individual workers can be an important contributor to these aggregate costs. The analysis also demonstrates that the level of unemployment benefits impacts the economy’s sectoral composition, its aggregate productivity, and the speed of its adjustment to shocks. Ce texte utilise un modèle d’équilibre de la recherche et de l’arrimage pour étudier les ajustements sectoriels du travail au Canada dans la période 2002–2006 – une période d’appréciation des prix globaux des produits de base et du taux de change. J'estime que les coûts d’ajustement sont économiquement significatifs pour l’économie agrégée au cours de cet épisode, et que la difficultéà transférer les compétences entre emplois pour les travailleurs individuels peut être une source importante de ces coûts agrégés. Les analyses montrent aussi que le niveau des prestations d’assurance‐emploi a un impact sur la composition sectorielle de l’économie, sur la productivité, et sur la vitesse des ajustements aux chocs.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen Tapp, 2007. "Lost In Transition: The Costs And Consequences Of Sectoral Labour Adjustment," Working Paper 1142, Economics Department, Queen's University.
  • Handle: RePEc:qed:wpaper:1142
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    File URL: https://www.econ.queensu.ca/sites/econ.queensu.ca/files/qed_wp_1142.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Labour market flows revisited
      by Stephen Gordon in Worthwhile Canadian Initiative on 2015-10-16 05:56:42

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    Cited by:

    1. Simona E. Cociuba & James C. MacGee, 2018. "Demographics and Sectoral Reallocations: A Search Theory with Immobile Workers," University of Western Ontario, Departmental Research Report Series 20182, University of Western Ontario, Department of Economics.
    2. Ulku,Hulya & Georgieva,Dorina Peteva, 2022. "Unemployment Benefits, Active Labor Market Policies, and Labor Market Outcomes : Evidence from New Global Data," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10027, The World Bank.
    3. Zhang, Yahong, 2018. "Unemployment fluctuations in a small open-economy model with segmented labour markets: The case of Canada," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 6-20.
    4. Dorothee Flaig & Harald Grethe & Scott McDonald & Khalid Siddig, 2012. "Intersectoral factor movements: do adjustment costs matter for welfare?," EcoMod2012 4418, EcoMod.
    5. Peter Howie & Zauresh Atakhanova, 2020. "Heterogeneous labor and structural change in low- and middle-income, resource-dependent countries," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 297-332, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sectoral Labour Reallocation; Adjustment Costs; Search and Matching; Skills and Training; Unemployment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E2 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment
    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers
    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • Q43 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Energy and the Macroeconomy

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