Abstract

This paper uses big data on German online vacancies to investigate the impact of local labour market concentration on wages. Herfindahl-Hirschman Indexes are calculated based on the number of vacancies posted by firms in geographic-occupational labour markets. Based on IV results, a 1% increase in labour market concentration decreases posted wages for full-time employees by 0.098%. Workers who can work remotely do not face negative wage effects from labour market concentration suggesting that worker mobility can mitigate the negative wage effects of labour market concentration. While most vacancies occur in competitive labour markets, rural areas exhibit notable concentration.

Keywords: Labour Market Concentration, Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, Rural-Urban Wage Gap, Remote Work, Worker Mobility

How to Cite:

Makiranta, M., (2023) “Labour Market Concentration and Worker Mobility: Evidence from Online Vacancies”, UCL Journal of Economics 2(1), 18–25. doi: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.444.2755-0877.1654