Fringe Benefits and the Cost of Changing Jobs

Abstract

One of the costs borne by workers changing jobs is the income loss associated with forfeited fringe benefits, including nonvested pensions, paid vacation and sick leave, group medical and life insurance coverage, and possibly profit-sharing and stock-ownership programs. This paper uses longitudinal information on a representative sample of workers to derive empirical estimates of the costs of changing jobs that are attributable to the loss of such benefits. Employer-sponsored pension and health insurance plans prove to be the most important quantitatively.