Article
Sources of Displaced Workers' Long-Term Earnings Losses
Journal Articles
Upjohn Author ORCID Identifier
Publication Date
10-1-2020
Source
American Economic Review 110(10): 3231-3266
Abstract
We estimate the magnitudes of reduced earnings, work hours, and wage rates of workers displaced during the Great Recession using linked employer-employee panel data from Washington state. Displaced workers' earnings losses occurred mainly because hourly wage rates dropped at the time of displacement and recovered sluggishly. Lost employer-specific premiums explain only 17 percent of these losses. Fully 70 percent of displaced workers moved to employers paying the same or higher wage premiums than the displacing employers, but these workers nevertheless suffered substantial wage rate losses. Loss of valuable specific worker-employer matches explains more than one-half of the wage losses.
DOI
10.1257/aer.20180652
Publisher
American Economic Association
Disciplines
Citation Information
Lachowska, Marta, Alexandre Mas, and Stephen A. Woodbury. 2020. "Sources of Displaced Workers' Long-Term Earnings Losses." American Economic Review 110(10): 3231-3266.