What Matters for Job Finding and Separation in the Long Run? Evidence from Labor Market Dynamics in New Zealand

Author/Editor:

Guanyu Zheng ; Gulnara Nolan ; Christopher Ball ; Siddharth Kothari ; Yosuke Kido

Publication Date:

September 7, 2022

Electronic Access:

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Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary:

We use the novel anonymized Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) microdata to analyze job finding rates and job separation rates in New Zealand. We find that individual characteristics, including age, gender, ethnicity and education have a significant impact on job finding and separation rates, even after controlling for other factors. We use a decomposition approach to analyze how the effects of individual characteristics on job finding and separation rates contribute to heterogeneity in employment outcomes. Overall, we find that higher separation rates of young workers play a disproportionate role in explaining heterogeneity of employment outcomes across age groups, while differences in finding rates are somewhat more important in explaining differences by education level. Both finding and separation rate differences are important in explaining differences across ethnicities. We also find some heterogeneous response of worker groups to business cycle after controlling for other factors. The results underscore the importance of well-targeted labor market support policies.

Series:

Working Paper No. 2022/172

Frequency:

regular

English

Publication Date:

September 7, 2022

ISBN/ISSN:

9798400218910/1018-5941

Stock No:

WPIEA2022172

Pages:

29

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