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RISING OCCUPATIONAL AND INDUSTRY MOBILITY IN THE UNITED STATES: 1968–97 *
Author(s) -
Kambourov Gueorgui,
Manovskii Iourii
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
international economic review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.658
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1468-2354
pISSN - 0020-6598
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2354.2008.00473.x
Subject(s) - earnings , occupational mobility , productivity , labour economics , human capital , economics , wage , inequality , demographic economics , capital (architecture) , business , economic growth , accounting , mathematical analysis , mathematics , archaeology , history
We document and analyze the high level and the substantial increase in worker mobility in the United States over the 1968–97 period at various levels of occupational and industry aggregation. This is important in light of the recent findings that human capital of workers is largely occupation‐ or industry‐specific. To control for measurement error in occupation and industry coding, we develop a method that utilizes the PSID Retrospective Occupation‐Industry Supplemental Data Files. We emphasize the importance of our findings for understanding a number of issues such as the changes in wage inequality, aggregate productivity, job stability, and life‐cycle earnings profiles.