A Hicksian Model of Labour Turnover and Local Wage Determination

G L Clark
Additional contact information
G L Clark: John F Kennedy School of Government, Gund Hall, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass 02138, USA

Environment and Planning A, 1981, vol. 13, issue 5, 563-574

Abstract: Employers have a variety of reasons for attempting to stabilize turnover in their labour force. For example, specific skill requirements, the added costs of training inherent in hiring new workers, and the absolute demand for labour may stimulate firms to minimize labour turnover. One way of reducing turnover is for the individual firm to raise its wage rates. However, depending upon the relative tightness of the local labour market (reflected in the rates of hiring and unemployment), this could result in widespread wage competition amongst employers and general increases in the aggregate local wage rate. The significance of quits, hires, and unemployment are explored, in an attempt to explain differential urban wage inflation in the United States. Emphasis is placed on Hicks's model of labour turnover which emphasizes the firm's management of its labour needs. This model is analysed in a time-series framework over the period 1970–1979; a decade of rapid inflation and general stagnation in the United States.

Date: 1981
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a130563 (text/html)

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:sae:envira:v:13:y:1981:i:5:p:563-574

DOI: 10.1068/a130563

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Environment and Planning A
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().