The Complexity of Job Mobility Among Young Men

44 Pages Posted: 27 Jun 2000 Last revised: 16 Sep 2022

See all articles by Derek A. Neal

Derek A. Neal

University of Chicago - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: July 1998

Abstract

The model of job search involves both employer matches and career matches and incorporates an asymmetry in the search technology. Workers may change employers without changing careers, but cannot search over possible lines of work while working for one employer. The optimal policy implies a two-stage search strategy in which workers search over types of work first. After finding a good match with a particular line of work, they then concentrate on finding an employer. The patterns of job changes observed in the NLSY provide considerable support for the two-stage search policy implied by the model. Among male workers who are changing jobs, those who have previously changed employers while working in their current career are much less likely to change careers during the current job change. This result holds even among workers with similar levels of career-specific work experience. Further, the link between experience and the complexity of job changes operates almost entirely through the two-stage mechanism identified in the model. Among those who are in the first stage (no previous intra-career moves) there is little relationship between experience and the complexity of job changes.

Suggested Citation

Neal, Derek Allen, The Complexity of Job Mobility Among Young Men (July 1998). NBER Working Paper No. w6662, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=226356

Derek Allen Neal (Contact Author)

University of Chicago - Department of Economics ( email )

1126 East 59th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States