Concentration and mergers: evidence from Italian labor markets

Filippo Passerini

Oxford Economic Papers, 2025, vol. 77, issue 3, 790-805

Abstract: This article investigates the effects of labor market concentration on employment, job security, and wages. By constructing a flow-based index, I find that concentration is generally low across markets but varies across industries. Then, I use a Two-Stage Least Squares (TSLS) strategy based on the different exposures of industries to horizontal mergers. I find that mergers increase concentration, which in turn reduces wages by −0.14 and −0.07 and hires by −0.77 and −0.68%age points. I also find that (1) concentration does not affect the likelihood of a permanent hire but increases the probability that, when a temporary worker is renewed, the contract is again temporary; (2) men are affected by concentration only through wages, while women are less affected but also through job security; (3) estimates magnitude increases in concentration levels.

Keywords: monopsony; labor market concentration; mergers; job security; wages; hires (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J31 J42 J71 L13 L41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oep/gpae050 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:77:y:2025:i:3:p:790-805.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Oxford Economic Papers is currently edited by James Forder and Francis J. Teal

More articles in Oxford Economic Papers from Oxford University Press Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().