Job Search Behavior Among the Employed and Non-Employed

71 Pages Posted: 28 Aug 2017 Last revised: 6 May 2023

See all articles by Jason Faberman

Jason Faberman

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago; Bureau of Labor Statistics - Office of Employment and Unemployment Statistics

Andreas I. Mueller

University of Texas at Austin - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Aysegul Sahin

Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Giorgio Topa

Federal Reserve Banks - Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: August 2017

Abstract

We develop a unique survey that focuses on the job search behavior of individuals regardless of their labor force status and field it annually starting in 2013. We use our survey to study the relationship between search effort and outcomes for the employed and non-employed. Three important facts stand out: (1) on-the-job search is pervasive, and is more intense at the lower rungs of the job ladder; (2) the employed are about four times more efficient than the unemployed in job search; and (3) the employed receive better job offers than the unemployed. We set up an on-the-job search model with endogenous search effort, calibrate it to fit our new facts, and find that the search effort of the employed is highly elastic. We show that search effort substantially amplifies labor market responses to job separation and matching efficiency shocks over the business cycle.

Suggested Citation

Faberman, Jason and Mueller, Andreas I. and Sahin, Aysegul and Topa, Giorgio, Job Search Behavior Among the Employed and Non-Employed (August 2017). NBER Working Paper No. w23731, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3027835

Jason Faberman (Contact Author)

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

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Bureau of Labor Statistics - Office of Employment and Unemployment Statistics ( email )

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Andreas I. Mueller

University of Texas at Austin - Department of Economics ( email )

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

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IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

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Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

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Aysegul Sahin

Federal Reserve Bank of New York ( email )

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New York, NY 10045
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Giorgio Topa

Federal Reserve Banks - Federal Reserve Bank of New York ( email )

33 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10045
United States

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