Accounting
for Mismatch Unemployment
(previously
circulated under the title “Structural Unemployment”)
Benedikt Herz and Thijs van Rens
Published in the Journal of
the European Economic Association, 18(4), pp.1619–1654, August 2020
Abstract
We investigate unemployment due to mismatch in the
United States over the past three and a half decades. We propose an accounting
framework that allows us to estimate the contribution of each of the frictions
that generated labor market mismatch. Barriers to job mobility account for the
largest part of mismatch unemployment, with a smaller role for barriers to
worker mobility. We find little contribution of wage-setting frictions to
mismatch.
January 2019 [download pdf] – Also available as CEPR
Discussion Paper 12972.
Readers familiar with previous versions of this paper
(2016 or earlier) may notice the results have changed. This note explains why.
Previous versions: May
2018 (appendices), April 2016 (appendices),
May 2015, also available as IZA
Discussion Paper 8884.
First version: February 2011
Non-technical
summaries
NEW Paying Skilled Workers More Would Create More
Skilled Workers (980 words, 2 pages)
Harvard
Business Review, 19 May 2016
(Wall Street Journal Must-Read Story,
20 May 2016)
The Skills Gap: Is it a
Myth? (5500 words, 18 pages)
CAGE/SMF Global
Perspectives Series: Paper 5, December 2015
Podcast
(30 min + 30 min discussion) and slides
Media
coverage:
SMEs suffering due to "growing mismatch"
with labour market, European
Business Review, 5 August 2019
Now Is Not a Good Time to Skimp on Worker Training, Bloomberg,
26 October 2018
Is there a ‘skills gap’?, Channel
4 News FactCheck, 3 July 2017
A press release
in December 2015 was picked up by various outlets focusing on:
·
Recruitment, training
and education
o Workopolis,
Canada
o Training
Journal, UK
o Recruiting
Times, UK
o HR
Reporter, Canada
o Eddie Playfair,
Principal of NewVIc, East London
·
Business
o The
Business Desk, West Midlands, UK
o Real
Business, UK
o BusinessLine on Campus, India
·
Science and
technology
o Science
Newsline, Tokyo and California
o Technobahn,
Japan
o Engineering.com,
Canada/global
o The
Engineer, UK
o Automotive
Industry Today, US
·
Health
·
Food industry
o Food Manufacture, UK: first
article & response
of the industry
o Food
Processing, UK
Data
Available on request.
Thijs van Rens | IDEAS/RePEc | Google Scholar | ResearchGate