Job Applications and Labor Market Flows

Serdar Birinci, Kurt See and Shu Lin Wee ()

No 2020-023, Working Papers from Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Abstract: Job applications have risen over time, yet job-finding rates remain unchanged. Meanwhile, separations have declined. We argue that increased applications raise the probability of a good match rather than the probability of job-finding. Using a search model with multiple applications and costly information, we show that when applications increase, firms invest in identifying good matches, reducing separations. Concurrently, increased congestion and selectivity over which offer to accept temper increases in job-finding rates. Our framework contains testable implications for changes in offers, acceptances, reservation wages, applicants per vacancy, and tenure, objects that enable it to generate the trends in unemployment flows.

Keywords: Multiple Applications; Inflows; Outflows; Unemployment; Costly Information (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 J63 J64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 73 pages
Date: 2020-08-07, Revised 2023-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dge, nep-lab and nep-mac
Note: Publisher DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdae064
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Published in The Review of Economic Studies

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Related works:
Working Paper: Job Applications and Labour Market Flows (2021)
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DOI: 10.20955/wp.2020.023

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