Firms' relative sensitivity to aggregate shocks and the dynamics of gross job flows

Abstract

We propose the coefficient of variation as a measure of the cyclical volatility of gross job flows that is immune to trends in net job creation. In addition, we show that this measure is intrinsically related to the importance of aggregate shocks for fluctuations in job flows at the firm level. Using data for the Portuguese economy, we conclude that the coefficient of variation is a more robust measure for the underlying volatility of gross job flows. We also find that large and old firms exhibit higher relative sensitivity to aggregate shocks than small and young firms, and have a disproportional influence over the dynamics of aggregate job reallocation. In particular, since large and old firms tend to reallocate jobs less procyclically than small and young firms, job reallocation is less procyclical than if all firm classes were equally sensitive to aggregate shocks.