Wage Dispersion and Search Behavior: The Importance of Non-Wage Job Values
89 Pages Posted: 30 Nov 2015 Last revised: 21 Jun 2023
There are 2 versions of this paper
Wage Dispersion and Search Behavior
Date Written: November 2015
Abstract
We use a rich new body of data on the experiences of unemployed jobseekers to determine the sources of wage dispersion and to create a search model consistent with the acceptance decisions the jobseekers made. Heterogeneity in non-wage job values or amenities among jobseekers and jobs is a central feature of our model. From the data and the model, we identify the distributions of four key variables: offered wages, offered non-wage job values, the value of the jobseeker's non-work alternative, and the jobseeker's personal productivity. We find that, conditional on personal productivity, the standard deviation of offered log-wages is moderate, at 0.24, whereas the dispersion of the non-wage component of offered job values is substantially larger, at 0.34. The resulting dispersion of offered job values is 0.38. We also find high dispersion of personal productivity, at 0.43.
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation