Perceived Returns to Job Search

Abi Adams-Prassl (), Teodora Boneva (), Marta Golin and Christopher Rauh
Additional contact information
Abi Adams-Prassl: University of Oxford
Teodora Boneva: University of Bonn

No 15307, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: In this paper we provide the first evidence on workers' perceptions of the returns to job search effort. The perceived job finding probability is nearly linear in hours searched and only slightly concave for most respondents. While workers are over-optimistic about the probability of receiving a job offer conditional on any search, they perceive the marginal return to additional search hours as positive but comparably low. Job seekers receiving an offer update their perceived returns upwards, while others' beliefs regress towards the direction of the mean. We find little evidence that the novel aspects of the pandemic recession have fundamentally changed workers' motivations for job search: that an existing job is expected to end or has unsatisfactory pay are the primary motives for on-the-job search. On the contrary, workers' ability to do their tasks from home is not a strong predictor of job search nor a significant motive for switching occupations.

Keywords: subjective beliefs; COVID-19; working from home; perceived returns; job search; reservation wage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J62 J64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 62 pages
Date: 2022-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published - published in: Labour Economics, 2023, 80, 102307

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Related works:
Journal Article: Perceived returns to job search (2023)
Working Paper: Perceived Returns to Job Search (2022)
Working Paper: Perceived Returns to Job Search (2022)
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