Bachmann, Ruediger
[Author];
Bayer, Christian
[Author];
Merkl, Christian
[Author];
Seth, Stefan
[Author];
Stüber, Heiko
[Author];
Wellschmied, Felix
[Author]
Worker churn and employment growth at the establishment level
Description:
We study the relationship between employment growth and worker flows in excess of job flows (churn) at the establishment level using the new German AWFP dataset spanning from 1975-2014. Churn is above 5 percent of employment along the entire employment growth distribution and most pronounced at rapidly-adjusting establishments. We find that the patterns of churn along the employment growth distribution can be explained by separation rate shocks and time-to-hire frictions. These shocks become larger on average during boom periods leading to procyclical worker churn. Distinguishing between separations into non-employment and to other establishments, we find that separations to other establishments drive all procyclical churn. In a secondary contribution, we compare German worker and job flows with their US counterparts and recent US findings.