Job and worker turnover in German establishments

Bellmann, Lutz; Gerner, Hans-Dieter; Upward, Richard

Abstract

We use a simple non-parametric regression approach to measure the relationship between employment growth, hirings and separations in a large panel of German establishments over the period 1993--2014. Although it is often claimed that firms in Europe have less flexibility in their ability to hire and fire, we find that the relationship between employment growth and worker flows in German establishments is very similar to the behaviour of US establishments. The relationship is stable over time, even during the 2008-09 economic crisis, and across different types of establishment. We verify our results with independent measures from administrative data. We suggest that this result is due to: the strong relationship between employment reductions and voluntary separations; the low level of "churning"; and the heterogeneity of jobs within establishments.

Citation

Bellmann, L., Gerner, H., & Upward, R. (2018). Job and worker turnover in German establishments. Manchester School, 86(4), 417-445. https://doi.org/10.1111/manc.12187

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 26, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Mar 10, 2017
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Jan 31, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 11, 2019
• Journal: Manchester School
• Print ISSN: 1463-6786
• Electronic ISSN: 1467-9957
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 86
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 417-445
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/manc.12187
• Keywords: Job turnover, Worker turnover, Hirings and separations
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/943151
• Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/manc.12187/full
• Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Bellmann, L., Gerner, H.-D. and Upward, R. (2017), Job and Worker Turnover in German Establishments. The Manchester School. doi:10.1111/manc.12187 which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/manc.12187/full This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.