Using matched employee‐employer data to measure labour mobility and knowledge flows in supply‐chain and labour‐based industry clusters

This study uses a matched employee‐employer database to explore how workers transfer knowledge and skills across employers and industries. Because workers are a primary vehicle of knowledge exchange, the analysis of labor mobility can help identify businesses with common skill requirements, production methods, or other technological foundations. After developing a measure of industry association based on labour flows, I test how well national industry staffing patterns and buyer‐supplier associations explain labour mobility between industries. I find that workers are most likely to transfer between industries that share a common occupational profile, although up and downstream associations are also significant.