Concentration in US Labor Markets: Evidence from Online Vacancy Data

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

No 11379, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Using data on the near-universe of online US job vacancies collected by Burning Glass Technologies in 2016, we calculate labor market concentration using the Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI) for each commuting zone by 6-digit SOC occupation. The average market has an HHI of 3,953, or the equivalent of 2.5 recruiting employers. 54% of labor markets are highly concentrated (above 2,500 HHI) according to the DOJ/FTC guidelines. Highly concentrated markets account for 17% of employment. All plausible alternative market definitions show that more than 33% of markets are highly concentrated, suggesting that employers have market power in many US labor markets.

Keywords: labor markets; oligopsony; monopsony; competition policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J21 J23 J42 K21 L11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2018-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lma, nep-pay and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (80)

Published - published in: Labour Economics, 2020, 66, 101886

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Related works:
Journal Article: Concentration in US labor markets: Evidence from online vacancy data (2020)
Working Paper: Concentration in US Labor Markets: Evidence From Online Vacancy Data (2018)
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