Labor Market Concentration

José Azar (), Ioana Marinescu and Marshall Steinbaum
Additional contact information
José Azar: IESE Business School

No 11254, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: A product market is concentrated when a few firms dominate the market. Similarly, a labor market is concentrated when a few firms dominate hiring in the market. Using data from the leading employment website CareerBuilder.com, we calculate labor market concentration for over 8,000 geographic-occupational labor markets in the US. Based on the DOJ-FTC horizontal merger guidelines, the average market is highly concentrated. Using a panel IV regression, we show that going from the 25th percentile to the 75th percentile in concentration is associated with a 17% decline in posted wages, suggesting that concentration increases labor market power.

Keywords: labor markets; oligopsony; monopsony; competition policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J30 J42 L40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2017-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com and nep-lma
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (88)

Published - published in: Journal of Human Resources, 2022, 57 (S 2022), S167-S199

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Related works:
Journal Article: Labor Market Concentration (2022)
Working Paper: Labor Market Concentration (2017)
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