Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/223749 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 13307
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper studies the extent to which the cyclicality of gross and net occupational mobility shapes that of aggregate unemployment and its duration distribution. Using the SIPP, we document the relation between workers' (gross and net) occupational mobility and unemployment duration over the long run and business cycle. To interpret this evidence, we develop an analytically and computationally tractable stochastic equilibrium model with heterogenous agents and occupations as well as aggregate uncertainty. The model is quantitatively consistent with several important features of the US labor market: procyclical gross and countercyclical net occupational mobility, the large volatility of unemployment and the cyclical properties of the unemployment duration distribution, among others. Our analysis shows that "excess" occupational mobility due to workers' changing career prospects interacts with aggregate conditions to drive fluctuations of aggregate unemployment and its duration distribution.
Subjects: 
unemployment
business cycle
rest
search
occupational mobility
JEL: 
E24
E30
J62
J63
J64
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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