Labor Market Heterogeneity and the Aggregate Matching Function

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Barnichon, Regis; Figura, Andrew
• 署名单位: Centre de Recerca en Economia Internacional (CREI); Pompeu Fabra University; Barcelona School of Economics; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve System Board of Governors
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MACROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7707
• DOI: 10.1257/mac.20140116
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 222-249
• 关键词: unemployment; duration; search; shifts

摘要

We estimate an aggregate matching function and find that the regression residual, which captures movements in matching efficiency, displays procyclical fluctuations and a dramatic decline after 2007. Using a matching function framework that explicitly takes into account worker heterogeneity as well as market segmentation, we show that matching efficiency movements can be the result of variations in the degree of heterogeneity in the labor market. Matching efficiency declines substantially when, as in the Great Recession, the average characteristics of the unemployed deteriorate substantially, or when dispersion in labor market conditions-the extent to which some labor markets fare worse than others-increases markedly.