Full Citation

Title: Weathering the Great Recession: Variation in Employment Responses by Establishments and Countries

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2016

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI: 10.3386/w22432

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Abstract: This paper finds that US employment changed differently relative to output in the Great Recession and recovery than in most other advanced countries or in the US in earlier recessions. Instead of hoarding labor, US firms reduced employment proportionately more than output in the Great Recession, with establishments that survived the downturn contracting jobs massively. Diverging from the aggregate pattern, US manufacturers reduced employment less than output while the elasticity of employment to gross output varied widely among establishments. In the recovery, growth of employment was dominated by job creation in new establishments. The variegated responses of employment to output challenges extant models of how enterprises adjust employment over the business cycle.

Url: http://www.nber.org/papers/w22432.pdf

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Authors: Barth, Erling; Davis, James; Freeman, Richard; Kerr, Sari Pekkala

Series Title: NBER Working Paper Series

Publication Number: 22432

Institution: National Bureau of Economic Research

Pages:

Publisher Location: Cambridge, MA

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure

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