Working Paper: NBER ID: w29727
Authors: Antoine Bertheau; Edoardo Maria Acabbi; Cristina Barcelo; Andreas Gulyas; Stefano Lombardi; Raffaele Saggio
Abstract: We document the consequences of losing a job across countries using a harmonized research design applied to seven matched employer-employee datasets. Workers in Denmark and Sweden experience the lowest earnings declines following job displacement, while workers in Italy, Spain, and Portugal experience losses three times as high. French and Austrian workers face earnings losses somewhere in between. Key to these differences is that Southern European workers are less likely to find employment following displacement. Loss of employer-specific wage premiums explains a substantial portion of wage losses in all countries.
Keywords: job displacement; earnings loss; labor market; cross-country comparison
JEL Codes: J01; J18; J23; J31
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| job displacement (J63) | earnings decline (J31) |
| job displacement (J63) | likelihood of finding new employment (J63) |
| likelihood of finding new employment (J63) | earnings decline (J31) |
| loss of employer-specific wage premiums (J32) | wage losses (J31) |
| job displacement (J63) | probability of non-employment (J68) |