Occupational upgrading and the business cycle in West Germany

Thomas Büttner, Peter Jacobebbinghaus and Johannes Ludsteck
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Peter Jacobebbinghaus: Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany

No 200902, IAB-Discussion Paper from Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]

Abstract: "The occupational skill structure depends on the business cycle if employers respond to shortages of applicants during upturns by lowering their hiring standards. The notion and relevance of hiring standards adjustment was advanced by Reder (1955) and investigated formally in a search-theoretic framework by Mortensen (1970). Devereux (2002) implements empirical tests for these theories and finds affirmative evidence for the U.S labour market. We replicate his analysis using German employment register data. Regarding the occupational skill composition we obtain somewhat lower but qualitatively similar responses to the business cycle despite of well known institutional differences between the U.S. and German labour market. The responsiveness of occupational composition wages to the business cycle is considerably lower in Germany." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Keywords: Bundesrepublik Deutschland; berufliche Qualifikation; Geschlechterverteilung; Konjunkturabhängigkeit; Lohnhöhe; Personalanpassung; Personaleinstellung; Qualifikationsanforderungen; 1984-2004 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C24 J31 J41 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2009
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec and nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in/as: Economics. The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal, Vol. 4, Art. 10 (2010), S. 1-38, https://doku.iab.de/externe/2010/k100322n14.pdf

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iab:iabdpa:200902

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