Industrial Characteristics and Job Mobility Rates

Abstract

Allfirms operate in at least two markets. the product market and the labor market. I investigate the relationship between characteristics of these two markets by examining the effects of product market (industrial) characteristics on job mobility in labor markets. Informed by a theoretical model in which employer personnel strategies mediate the relationship between industrial characteristics and job mobility rates, hypotheses are formulated concerning the effects of six industrial characteristics concentration levels, conglomerate domination, labor intensity, growth rates, wage levels, and average establishment size on four types of job mobility involuntary exits, quits, intra-firm moves, and upward authority moves. Among the findings are: (1) quit rates, intra-firm mobility rates, and upward authority mobility rates are low in high wage industries; (2) labor intensive industries have high involuntary exit rates and low interand intra-firm mobility rates; and (3) the effects of industry growth on job mobility vary depending on whether growth occurs through the emergence of new firms or the increasing size of existing firms.