Job turnover and labor turnover: a taxonomy of employment dynamics

Daniel Hamermesh, Wolter H.J. Hassink and Jan C. van Ours

No 50, Serie Research Memoranda from VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Econometrics

Abstract: We present an organized set of stylized facts on the relations among flows of workers, changes in employment and changes in the numer of jobs at the firm level. Job turnover is usually measured by comparing stocks of employment in each firm at two points in time and adding up the absolute employment changes. This measure is a just proxy for true job turnover because only net job changes are counted. In this paper we use information that allows us to compare this proxy with the correct measure. We compare both of these measures to a measure of labor turnover that counts movements of individuals into and out of jobs. We find that: 1) The proxy for job turnover does not differ substantially from actual job turnover; 2) There is a big difference between job turnover and labor turnover. Most mobility is into and out of existing jobs rather than to created or from destroyed jobs; 3) A large fraction of all hires are by firms where employment is declining, and a large fraction of all layoffs are by firms where employment is expanding; 4) Simultaneous hiring and firing is due to heterogeneity of the work force.

Keywords: Employment; Job turnover (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1994
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Related works:
Journal Article: Job Turnover and Labor Turnover: A taxinomy of Employment Dynamics (1996)
Working Paper: Job turnover and labor turnover: A taxonomy of employment dynamics (1996)
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