In the United States, the aggregate vacancy-unemployment (V/U) ratio is strongly procyclical, and a large fraction of its adjustment associated with changes in productivity is sluggish. The latter is entirely unexplained by the benchmark homogeneous-agent model of equilibrium unemployment theory. I show that endogenous search and worker-side horizontal heterogeneity in production capacity can be important in accounting for this propagation puzzle. Driven by differences in unemployed and on-the-job seekers search incentives, the probability that any given firm with a job opening matches with a worker endowed with a comparative advantage in that job exhibits a stage of procyclical slow-moving adjustment. Consequently, so do the expected gains from posting vacancies and, hence, the V/U ratio. The model has channels through which the majority of both the V/U ratios sluggish-adjustment properties and its elasticity with respect to output per worker can be accounted for.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Creative Media Partners, LLC
ISBN-10
1288723571
ISBN-13
9781288723577
eBay Product ID (ePID)
159970403
Product Key Features
Book Title
International Finance Discussion Papers : Heterogeneous Workers, Optimal Job Seeking, and Aggregate Labor Market Dynamics