On the Effects of Career Choice: Matching Efficiency of Different Occupations and Education Levels

This paper investigates the differences in the matching process of job seekers and vacancies to be filled between different educational and occupational groups. To investigate this issue, matching functions are estimated across different occupations and educational cohorts, that is, on an even lower level of aggregation than previously investigated in the literature, and along different dimensions. In order to rule out spurious results, the panel data are tested for stationarity applying novel panel testing techniques based on bootstrapping methods. The data used also allow to distinguish inflows into jobs by previous job status of new hires.Matching, empirical matching functions, vacancies, unemployment, occupational structure, education, stationarity in panels

Spatial Aspects of Job Creation: Evidence from Western Germany

This paper provides detailed information about spatial interactions in the job creation process in West German regional labor markets. We investigate spatial (auto-) correlations in the matching process of vacancies and unemployed, examine regional hiring patterns, and identify clusters of regions with intense inter-regional matching. An extensive specification analysis illustrates the extent of regional dependencies. We investigate the impact of German re-unification on regional patterns of job creation, and compare regional matching efficiencies using a stochastic frontier approach.internal migration, regional unemployment, stochastic frontiers