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Author: Farber, Henry S.
Resulting in 7 citations.
1. Farber, Henry S.
Evaluating Competing Theories of Interfirm Worker Mobility
NLS Discussion Paper No. 92-5, Washington DC: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1992.
Also: http://stats.bls.gov/ore/abstract/nl/nl920020.htm
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: U.S. Department of Labor
Keyword(s): Heterogeneity; Job Search; Job Turnover; Mobility; Mobility, Job; Work Histories

The plan of this in-progress research which will utilize data from the NLSY is to develop and carry out an extensive set of tests of competing theories of mobility including theories of (1) the accumulation of firm-specific human capital, (2) individual heterogeneity in the propensity to change jobs, (3) job/match heterogeneity, and (4) the maturation of relatively mobile young workers into more stable workers. The tests will be based primarily on (1) the discrete pattern of prior mobility, (2) mobility during the first year on the job, (3) mobility subsequent to involuntary job changes, and (4) the relationship between the method of job finding (general search vs. referral) and mobility, both prior and subsequent.
Bibliography Citation
Farber, Henry S. "Evaluating Competing Theories of Interfirm Worker Mobility." NLS Discussion Paper No. 92-5, Washington DC: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1992.
2. Farber, Henry S.
The Analysis of Inter-Firm Worker Mobility
NBER Working Paper No. 4262, National Bureau of Economic Research, January 1993.
Also: http://nber.nber.org/papers/w4262
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): Economics, Demographic; Job Tenure; Labor Economics; Mobility, Interfirm; Mobility, Job

I use a sample of over fourteen thousand full-time jobs held by workers in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) to examine mobility patterns and to evaluate theories of inter-firm worker mobility. The roles of both heterogeneity and state dependence in determining mobility rates for young workers are investigated, and both are found to be very important. There are three main findings. First, mobility is strongly positively related to the frequency of job change prior to the start of the job. Second, job change in the most recent year prior to the start of the job is more strongly related than earlier job change to mobility on the current job. Third, the monthly hazard of job ending is not monotonically decreasing in tenure as most earlier work using annual data has found, but it increases to a maximum at three months and declines thereafter. The first two findings suggest that there is important heterogeneity in mobility but that this heterogeneity is not fixed over time (workers might mature). The third finding is consistent with models of heterogeneous match quality that cannot be observed ex ante. I also find that females hold fewer jobs per year in the labor force than males and that this result is driven by a lower exit rate for females from the first job after entry.
Bibliography Citation
Farber, Henry S. "The Analysis of Inter-Firm Worker Mobility." NBER Working Paper No. 4262, National Bureau of Economic Research, January 1993.
3. Farber, Henry S.
The Analysis of Interfirm Worker Mobility
Journal of Labor Economics 12,4 (October 1994): 554-593.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2535260
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Keyword(s): Economics, Demographic; Job Tenure; Labor Economics; Mobility, Interfirm; Mobility, Job

A large sample of jobs from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth is used to examine job mobility patterns and to evaluate theories of interfirm worker mobility. There are three main findings. First, the monthly hazard of job ending is not monotonically decreasing in tenure as most earlier work using annual data has found, but it increases to a maximum at 3 months and declines thereafter. Second, mobility is strongly positively related to the frequency of job change prior to the start of the job. Finally, job change in the most recent year prior to the start of the job is more strongly related than earlier job change to mobility on the current Job.
Bibliography Citation
Farber, Henry S. "The Analysis of Interfirm Worker Mobility." Journal of Labor Economics 12,4 (October 1994): 554-593.
4. Farber, Henry S.
Trends in Worker Demand for Union Representation
American Economic Review 79,2 (May 1989): 166-171.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1827751
Cohort(s): Young Men, Young Women
Publisher: American Economic Association
Keyword(s): Gender Differences; Job Satisfaction; Quality of Employment Survey (QES); Racial Differences; Unions

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The dramatic decline in the demand for union representation among nonunion workers over the last decade is investigated using data on worker preferences for union representation from four surveys conducted in 1977, 1980, 1982, and 1984. Relatively little of the decline can be accounted for by shifts in labor force structure. However, virtually all of the decline is correlated with an increase in the satisfaction of nonunion workers with their jobs and a decline in nonunion workers' beliefs that unions are able to improve wages and working conditions.
Bibliography Citation
Farber, Henry S. "Trends in Worker Demand for Union Representation." American Economic Review 79,2 (May 1989): 166-171.
5. Farber, Henry S.
Unionism, Labor Turnover, and Wages of Young Men
Research in Labor Economics 3 (1980): 33-53
Cohort(s): Young Men
Publisher: JAI Press, Inc.
Keyword(s): Job Turnover; Layoffs; Quits; Skilled Workers; Unions; Wages, Young Men; Work History

The empirical work utilized a sample from the NLS Young Men's data set. The major hypotheses were supported by the results. First, and consistent with the rationing hypothesis, it was found that more skilled workers were more likely to work on union jobs. Second, it was found that those workers less likely to quit were more likely to be union members. As a result, the observed negative correlation between unionization and quits among young workers is an overstatement (in absolute terms) of the direct impact of unionization on quits. In conclusion, two general comments are in order. First, the differences between the results on quits and the results on total permanent job transitions are evidence that quits and involuntary terminations must be modeled as distinct phenomena. Second, the obvious differences between the results of this study relating to young workers and the results of studies that deal with a more varied group of workers is evidence that unions have differing impacts on different groups of workers. Studies that deal with a wide variety of workers and rely on a single union dummy variable to measure the average impact of unionization may be misleading when the results are applied to particular groups.
Bibliography Citation
Farber, Henry S. "Unionism, Labor Turnover, and Wages of Young Men." Research in Labor Economics 3 (1980): 33-53.
6. Farber, Henry S.
Gibbons, Robert
Learning and Wage Dynamics
NBER Working Paper No. 3764, National Bureau of Economic Research, October 1991.
Also: http://nber.nber.org/papers/W3764
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): Educational Attainment; Educational Returns; Job Training; Learning Hypothesis; Wage Dynamics

The authors develop a dynamic model of learning and wage determination: education may convey initial information about ability, but subsequent observations of performance are also informative. Although the role of schooling declines as performance observations accumulate, its effect on wages is independent of labor market experience. Evidence from the NLSY is generally consistent with all the predictors of the model. The authors conclude that a blend of the learning model with an on-the-job training model is more plausible than either model alone.
Bibliography Citation
Farber, Henry S. and Robert Gibbons. "Learning and Wage Dynamics." NBER Working Paper No. 3764, National Bureau of Economic Research, October 1991.
7. Farber, Henry S.
Gibbons, Robert
Learning and Wage Dynamics
Quarterly Journal of Economics 111,4 (November 1996): 1007-1047.
Also: http://qje.oxfordjournals.org/content/111/4/1007.abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Wiley Online
Keyword(s): Benefits, Fringe; Human Capital; Job Tenure; Job Training; Labor Economics; Labor Market, Secondary; Modeling; Schooling; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT; Training, Occupational; Training, On-the-Job; Wage Differentials; Wage Levels

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The authors develop a dynamic model of learning about worker ability in a competitive labor market. The model produces three testable implications regarding wage dynamics: (1) although the role of schooling in the labor market's inference process declines as performance observations accumulate, the estimated effect of schooling on the level of wages is independent of labor-market experience; (2) time invariant variables correlated with ability but unobserved by employers (such as certain test scores) are increasingly correlated with wages as experience increases; and (3) wage residuals are a martingale. The authors present evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth that is broadly consistent with the model's predictions.
Bibliography Citation
Farber, Henry S. and Robert Gibbons. "Learning and Wage Dynamics." Quarterly Journal of Economics 111,4 (November 1996): 1007-1047.