TY - JOUR T1 - Labour Market Institutions and Worker Flows: Comparing Germany and the US JF - The Economic Journal Y1 - 2014 A1 - Jung, Philip A1 - Kuhn, Moritz KW - Germany KW - labor market flows KW - unemployment KW - unemployment rate volatility KW - worker flows AB -

We compare labor market flows in the US and Germany between 1980 and 2004. In Germany, average worker flows in and out of unemployment are substantially lower; outflows are equally volatile in both countries; inflows are about twice as volatile in Germany and contribute more to the unemployment rate volatility. We explore four candidates for these differences: unemployment benefits; union bargaining power; employment protection and the efficiency of matching unemployed workers to open positions. We find that a lower matching efficiency in Germany can explain the bulk of the cross‐country differences. It amplifies the business cycle and adds persistence.

VL - 124 L2 - eng UR - http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2536176 CP - 581 ER -