Full Citation

Title: Specific human capital and wait unemployment

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2019

ISBN:

ISSN: 0734306X

DOI: 10.1086/700190

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: A displaced worker might rationally prefer to wait through a long spell of unemployment instead of seeking employment at a lower wage in a job he is not trained for. I evaluate this trade-off using micro data on displaced workers. To achieve identification, I exploit the fact that the more a worker has invested in occupation-specific human capital, the more costly it is for him to switch occupations and therefore the higher is his incentive to wait. I find that between 9% and 17% of total unemployment in the United States can be attributed to wait unemployment.

Url: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/700190

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Authors: Herz, Benedikt

Periodical (Full): Journal of Labor Economics

Issue: 2

Volume: 37

Pages: 467-508

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Other

Countries: