A large body of literature explains the inferior position of unskilled workers by imposing a structural shift in the labor force skill composition. This paper takes a different approach by emphasizing the connection between cyclical variations in skilled and unskilled labor markets. Using a...

We formulate an efficiency wage model with on-the-job search where wages depend on turnover and employers may use information on whether the searching worker is employed or unemployed as a hiring criterion. We show theoretically that ranking by employment status affects both the level and the...

This study documents how job seekers update perceived job-finding prospects by unemployment duration and by learning about aggregate unemployment. We find that job seekers perceive an 18% decline in their job-finding probability for each additional month of unemployment, but perceive a higher...

We analyse the role that education signals play in the transition rates from unemployment to finding a job. We compare the results for Ethnic Germans with those for foreigners from the same origin countries and Native Germans. In the first case, the two have the same labour market access but...

Empirical observations show that education helps to protect against labor market risks. This is twofold: The higher educated face a higher expected wage income and a lower probability of being unemployed. Although this relationship has been analyzed in the literature broadly, several questions...

Are labor markets in higher-income countries more meritocratic, in the sense that worker-job matching is based on skills rather than idiosyncratic attributes unrelated to productivity? If so, why? And what are the aggregate consequences? Using internationally comparable data on worker skills and...

The current low participation rate of low-skilled workers in vocational re-training ac-tivities as well as the relatively high share of youth without vocational qualification are major challenges for German labour market policies. Recently implemented pro-grams by the Federal Employment Service...

Am Beispiel des wiedervereinigten Deutschlands zeigt dieser Beitrag, welche Unterschiede in den Erwerbsunterbrechungsdauern von Müttern in Ost- und Westdeutschland bestehen. Empirisch betrachten wir das Rückkehrverhalten nach Erstgeburten im Zeitraum von 1992 bis 2009. In dieser Zeit gelten in...

We perform a comprehensive analysis of the stepping-stone effect of temporary agency employment on unemployed workers. Using the timing-of-events approach, we not only investigate whether agency employment is a bridge into regular em-ployment but also analyze its effect on post-unemployment...

In der Studie wird untersucht, wie innerbetriebliche Übergänge aus Arbeitsgelegenheiten mit Mehraufwandsentschädigung in ungeförderte sozialversicherungspflichtige Beschäftigung (Klebeeffekte) entstehen. Zunächst werden die Gründe erörtert, warum die direkte Beschäftigungsintegration...