Macroeconomic Conditions When Young Shape Job Preferences for Life

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Cotofan, Maria; Cassar, Lea; Dur, Robert; Meier, Stephan
• 署名单位: University of London; King's College London; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; University of Regensburg; Tinbergen Institute; Erasmus University Rotterdam - Excl Erasmus MC; Erasmus University Rotterdam; Columbia University
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_01057
• 发表日期: 2023-03
• 页码: 467-473
• 关键词: labor-market; work; recession; inference; american; VALUES

摘要

Preferences for monetary and nonmonetary job attributes are important for understanding workers' motivation and the organization of work. Little is known, however, about how those job preferences are formed. We study how macroeconomic conditions when young shape workers' job preferences for life. Using variation in income-per-capita across U.S. regions and over time since the 1920s, we find that job preferences vary in systematic ways with experienced macroeconomic conditions during young adulthood. Recessions create cohorts of workers who give higher priority to income, whereas booms make cohorts care more about job meaning for the rest of their lives.