Firm Market Power, Worker Mobility, and Wages in the US Labor Market

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bagga, Sadhika
• 署名单位: University of Texas System; University of Texas Austin
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF LABOR ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0734-306X
• DOI: 10.1086/726819
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: S205-S256
• 关键词: equilibrium unemployment; cyclical behavior; dispersion; search; rise

摘要

Worker mobility and wages have declined in the United States amid rising employer market power. I propose a theory of the labor market in which a decrease in employer competition, characterized by fewer firms per worker, drives the decline in worker mobility and wages. A finite and decreasing number of employers exert market power by excluding their offers from the outside options of their employees. This reduces the value of workers' outside options and, consequently, their wages and transitions across employers. I quantify the model to explain the long-run decline in worker mobility and wages and examine its cross-sectional implications.