We develop and estimate an equilibrium job search model of worker careers, allowing for human capital accumulation, employer heterogeneity and individual-level shocks. Wage growth is decomposed into contributions of human capital and job search, within and between jobs. Human capital accumulation is largest for highly educated workers. The contribution from job search to wage growth, both within- and between-job, declines over the fi rst ten years of a career – the ‘job-shopping’ phase of a working life – after which workers settle into high-quality jobs using outside o ffers to generate gradual wage increases, thus reaping the bene fits from competition between employers.
Find the working paper here.
Authors
Jean-Marc Robin
Jean-Marc is a Research Fellow of the IFS and a Professor of Economics at Sciences Po, Paris, and University College London.
Fabien Postel-Vinay
Fabien is an IFS Research Director and a Professor of Economics at UCL. His work’s focus is on labour markets.
Jesper Bagger
Francois Fontaine
More from IFS
Understand this issue
Policy analysis
Academic research
