Employer-to-Employer Flows in the United States: Estimates Using Linked Employer-Employee Data

46 Pages Posted: 9 Oct 2010

See all articles by Melissa Bjelland

Melissa Bjelland

Cornell University - School of Industrial and Labor Relations

Bruce Fallick

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

John Haltiwanger

University of Maryland - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Erika McEntarfer

U.S. Census Bureau

Multiple version iconThere are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: September 1, 2010

Abstract

We use administrative data linking workers and firms to study employer-to-employer flows. After discussing how to identify such flows in quarterly data, we investigate their basic empirical patterns. We find that the pace of employer-to-employer flows is high, representing about 4 percent of employment and 30 percent of separations each quarter. The pace of employer-to-employer flows is highly procyclical, and varies systematically across worker, job and employer characteristics. Our findings regarding job tenure and earnings dynamics suggest that for those workers moving directly to new jobs, the new jobs are generally better jobs; however, this pattern is highly procyclical. There are rich patterns in terms of origin and destination of industries. We find somewhat surprisingly that more than half of the workers making employer-to-employer transitions switch even broadly-defined industries (NAICS supersectors).

JEL Classification: E24, J62, J63

Suggested Citation

Bjelland, Melissa and Fallick, Bruce and Haltiwanger, John C. and McEntarfer, Erika, Employer-to-Employer Flows in the United States: Estimates Using Linked Employer-Employee Data (September 1, 2010). US Census Bureau Center for Economic Studies Paper No. CES-WP-10-26, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1688329 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1688329

Melissa Bjelland

Cornell University - School of Industrial and Labor Relations ( email )

Ithaca, NY 14853-3901
United States
212-340-2845 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/directory/mjb62/

Bruce Fallick

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland ( email )

East 6th & Superior
Cleveland, OH 44101-1387
United States

John C. Haltiwanger

University of Maryland - Department of Economics ( email )

College Park, MD 20742
United States
301-405-3504 (Phone)
301-405-3542 (Fax)

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Erika McEntarfer (Contact Author)

U.S. Census Bureau ( email )

4600 Silver Hill Road
Washington, DC 20233
United States

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