Duration Dependence in Finding a Job: Applications, Interviews, and Job Offers

97 Pages Posted: 16 Nov 2023

See all articles by Zuchuat Jeremy

Zuchuat Jeremy

University of Lausanne - Department of Economics

Rafael Lalive

University of Lausanne - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research)

Aderonke Osikominu

University of Hohenheim

Lorenzo Pesaresi

University of Zurich

Josef Zweimüller

University of Zurich

Abstract

The job finding rate declines with the duration of unemployment. While this is a well established fact, the reasons are still disputed. We use monthly search diaries from Swiss public employment offices to shed new light on this issue. Search diaries record all applications sent by job seekers, including the outcome of each application - whether the employer followed up with a job interview and a job offer. Based on more than 600,000 applications sent by 15,000 job seekers, we find that job applications and job interviews decrease, but job offers (after an interview) increase with duration. A model with statistical discrimination by firms and learning from search outcomes by workers replicates these empirical duration patterns closely. The structurally estimated model predicts that 55 percent of the decline in the job finding rate is due to "true" duration dependence, while the remaining 45 percent is due to dynamic selection of the unemployment pool. We also discuss further drivers of the observed duration patterns, such as human capital depreciation, stock-flow matching, depletion of one's personal network, and changes in application targeting or quality.

Keywords: job search, job finding, duration dependence, dynamic selection, search effort, job application, callback, job interview, job offer

JEL Classification: J24, J64

Suggested Citation

Jeremy, Zuchuat and Lalive, Rafael and Osikominu, Aderonke and Pesaresi, Lorenzo and Zweimüller, Josef, Duration Dependence in Finding a Job: Applications, Interviews, and Job Offers. IZA Discussion Paper No. 16602, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4634508 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4634508

Zuchuat Jeremy (Contact Author)

University of Lausanne - Department of Economics ( email )

Rafael Lalive

University of Lausanne - Department of Economics ( email )

Batiment Internef
Lausanne, 1015
Switzerland

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

Aderonke Osikominu

University of Hohenheim ( email )

Stuttgart
Germany

Lorenzo Pesaresi

University of Zurich ( email )

Rämistrasse 71
Zürich, CH-8006
Switzerland

Josef Zweimüller

University of Zurich

Rämistrasse 71
Zürich, CH-8006
Switzerland

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
34
Abstract Views
248
PlumX Metrics