Job Search Intensity and Wage Flexibility Among Different Age Groups

Abstract

This study explores how wage flexibility and job search intensity evolve with search duration among young, middle-aged and older job seekers. It moreover investigates whether financial hardship and reemployment efficacy mediate the relationships. Multi-group structural equation modeling on a sample of 1205 Belgian unemployed job seekers showed that search duration affected both wage flexibility and job search intensity, and that effect sizes differed across age groups. Wage flexibility did not evolve with search duration among young and middle-aged job seekers. Yet, our analyses revealed a direct, negative relationship between search duration and wage flexibility among older job seekers. While financial hardship and reemployment efficacy fully mediate the positive relationship between search duration and search intensity for middle-aged seekers, they only partially mediate the relationship for older job seekers. We discuss implications for theory, practice and future research.