Working Paper: NBER ID: w17782
Authors: Steven J. Davis; R. Jason Faberman; John C. Haltiwanger
Abstract: We measure job-filling rates and recruiting intensity per vacancy at the national and industry levels from January 2001 to September 2011 using data from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. Construction makes up less than 5 percent of employment but accounts for more than 40 percent of the large swings in the job-filling rate during and after the Great Recession. Leisure & Hospitality accounts for nearly a quarter of the large drop in recruiting intensity during the Great Recession. We show that industry-level movements in job-filling rates and recruiting intensity are at odds with the implications of the standard matching function in labor search theory but consistent with a generalized function that incorporates an important role for recruiting intensity per vacancy.
Keywords: job-filling rates; recruiting intensity; labor market; Great Recession
JEL Codes: E24; J63
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Recruiting intensity (M51) | Job-filling rates (J68) |
| Construction industry (L74) | National job-filling rates (J68) |
| Leisure and hospitality sector (Z31) | Recruiting intensity (M51) |
| Job-filling rates (J68) | Standard labor search theory prediction (J29) |
| Generalized matching function (C78) | Job-filling rates (J68) |