Sectoral transformation, turbulence, and labour market dynamics in Germany

Ronald Bachmann and Michael Burda

No 2007-008, SFB 649 Discussion Papers from Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk

Abstract: The secular rise of European unemployment since the 1960s is hard to explain without reference to structural change. This is especially true in Germany, where industrial employment has declined by more than 30% and service sector employment has more than doubled over the past three decades. Using individual transition data on West German workers, we document a marked increase in structural change and turbulence, in particular since 1990. Net employment changes resulted partly from an increase in gross flows, but also from an increase in the net transition yield at any given gross worker turnover. In growing sectors, net structural change was driven by accessions from nonparticipation rather than unemployment; contracting sectors reduced their net employment primarily via lower accessions from nonparticipation. While gross turnover is cyclically sensitive and strongly procyclical, net reallocation is countercyclical, meaning that recessions are associated with increased intensity of sectoral reallocation. Beyond this cyclical component, German reunification and Eastern enlargement appear to have contributed significantly to this accelerated pace of structural change.

Keywords: Gross worker flows; sectoral and occupational mobility; turbulence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J62 J63 J64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/25180/1/525377522.PDF (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Sectoral Transformation, Turbulence and Labor Market Dynamics in Germany (2010)
Journal Article: Sectoral Transformation, Turbulence and Labor Market Dynamics in Germany (2010)
Working Paper: Sectoral Transformation, Turbulence, and Labor Market Dynamics in Germany (2008)
Working Paper: Sectoral Transformation, Turbulence, and Labour Market Dynamics in Germany (2007)
Working Paper: Sectoral Transformation, Turbulence, and Labor Market Dynamics in Germany (2007)
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:zbw:sfb649:sfb649dp2007-008

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in SFB 649 Discussion Papers from Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics ().