This project involves two related empirical projects aimed at examining the dynamics of employment, hours, and compensation in U.S. labor markets. The link between the studies is the presumption that the costs of hiring and training new workers encourages firms to retain workers once they have been hired. The first study examines expected patterns in union contracts when there are costs associated with adjusting employment. This analysis will be undertaken with data on major bargaining agreements in the U.S. from 1965 to 1985. The second study focuses on measuring cyclical movements in labor costs taking into account workers' turnover behavior. A major component of this analysis is to match industry data on employment and hours to individual data on employment turnover in order to estimate the impact of firms' decisions on labor turnover. This project is important because it will provide a better understanding of the behavior of the labor market and the impact of labor contracts on labor mobility.
