This dissertation contributes to the empirical literature on labor market dynamics by using recently available and extraordinary data to analyze the following questions: 1) With regard to employment, are there really low dynamics in the German labor market as it is discussed in the literature? 2) Which are the determinants for employment dynamics in Germany? 3) Are there groups of workers and firms facing more dynamics than others? 4) How are employment dynamics affected by the business cycle? 5) Which are the determinants for a good reintegration process after the birth of the first child?In the first chapter job durations of German male workers using linked employer-employee data are examined. The results indicate that exit rates are strongly influenced by firm characteristics. The effects of some of these characteristics, however, are limited to particular job positions or skill groups. Changes in coefficients across specifications provide clear evidence for a sorting process whereby workers with long expected job durations are matched to firms offering stable employment (and vice versa). An extension of the model to a competing-risks framework shows that both, individual and firm-level characteristics, differ widely in their impact on job exit to different destination states. Among the substantive results, it would appear that works councils decrease exit both to unemployment and to new jobs, but do so only for blue collar workers.Job mobility and employment durations can be explained by different theoretical approaches, such as job matching or human capital theory or dual labor market approaches. These models may, however, apply to different degrees at different durations in the employment spell. Standard empirical techniques, such as hazard rate analysis, cannot deal with this problem. In the second chapter, censored quantile regression techniques are applied to estimate employment durations of male workers in Germany. The results give some support to the job matching model: individuals with a high risk of being bad matches exhibit higher exit rates initially, but the effect fades out over time. By contrast, the influence of human capital variables, such as education and further training, decreases with employment duration, which is inconsistent with the notion of increasing match-specific rents due to human capital accumulation. The results also suggest that the effects of certain labor market institutions, such as works councils, differ markedly between short-term and long-term employment, supporting the view that institutions give rise to dual labor markets.Recently, several studies extended the search and matching model by including worker and firm heterogeneity. Some macro economists criticize that the original model cannot fit real data. Some of the assumptions made in the recent models cannot be validated with macrodata since such data cannot capture the heterogeneity of workers and firms. In the third chapter microdata is used in order to validate whether assumptions with regard to tenure of the workers can be confirmed. Additionally, the impact of firm heterogeneity on business cycle effects is analyzed. Results show that job-to-unemployment and job-to-job separations exhibit higher volatility after short-tenure employment compared to long-tenure employment. Furthermore, the impact of aggregate shocks is remarkably heterogeneous between establishments and sectors. Overall, the cyclicality of job and worker flows is relatively low and the variation in the rates are mainly explained by firm heterogeneity.In the fourth chapter maternity leave durations, transition probabilities within a competing risks model and exit probabilities after maternity leave are analyzed. The sample exists of around 1500 first-time mothers working in a large German company. With personnel data employment histories with specific information about for instance working time and wage developments are observed. Cumulative incidence functions are estimated in order to analyze the probabilities to move into different exit states. Results show that women get their first baby when they reach a peak of their career. Less than 50 percent of all first-time mothers return to the employer within the first four years after birth. The probability to return is higher for better performing mothers who have a higher attachment to the company. These women also exhibit lower exit probabilities afterwards.
