The acceptance of earnings losses after voluntary mobility

Because rational individuals know that they cannot always get what they want, they are assumed to make appropriate adjustments. However, little is known about trade-off reasoning in labor market mobility decision making. The objective of this paper is to analyze the effect of commuting on the decision to voluntarily accept wage cuts. Application of German household data reveals that workers are more likely to accept lower wages when daily commuting expenses can be reduced. In other words, workers trade off amenities and monetary rewards when changing employers. -- Mobility ; wage cut ; quit