The thesis consists of two parts. The first part presents theoretical concepts of occupational mobility. The literature distinguishes between the horizontal re-sorting approach and the vertical one. In my opinion the vertical re-sorting approach reflects the real world more accurately. This approach allows for higher as well as for lower wage earnings of the workers after an occupational change. The second part contains an overview of occupational mobility rates, possible reasons for changing the occupation, and transitions matrices of occupational movements in other countries. However, the second part also looks at Austria: How does occupational mobility looks like in Austria? Do Austrian workers have preferences to move from one occupation to another? What are possible individual characteristics for the workers to undertake an occupational change?
The thesis is structured as follows: Chapter 2 gives a literature review of publications mainly regarding occupational mobility but at some points, it also covers issues regarding jobs. Chapter 3 explains the concept of occupational movements. Chapter 4 gives an overview of theoretical concepts of occupational mobility. These concepts are grouped into two approaches, the horizontal and the vertical re-sorting approach. The horizontal re-sorting approach allows only movements upward the wage transition. Note that the wage transition explains changes of the received wages of the workers. In contrast, in the vertical re-sorting approach movements in both directions along the wage transition are possible. Chapter 5 summarizes the results about occupational mobility rates for some regions, such as Europe, Germany, France, the United States.
The main purpose of chapter 6 is to discuss possible influences why a worker may undertake an occupational movement. Chapter 7 shows matrices that represent the occupational movements of the workers between occupation pairs. Chapter 8 presents my empirical analysis of the occupational mobility in Austria. Next, I investigate the occupational movements of the Austrian workers, in the understanding that an occupational movement is a concrete move from one occupation to a new occupation. After that, I perform an analysis of the influence of individual characteristics on an occupational movement, followed by an illustration of possible reasons why a currently employed worker would begin the search for another job.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 Literature review
3 Occupational mobility: What is it and how to measure it
3.1 Definitions and differences
3.2 How to effectively measure occupational mobility?
4 Theoretical concepts
4.1 The idea of horizontal re-sorting matches
4.1.1 Role of human capital and occupational mobility
4.1.2 Firm size and occupational mobility
4.2 Concept of vertical re-sorting matches
5 Results overview of occupational mobility
5.1 Occupational mobility on the European level
5.2 Occupational mobility in France
5.3 Results of occupational mobility in Germany
5.4 Britain - occupational mobility results
5.5 Switches in occupation in Denmark
5.6 A look at occupational mobility in the United States
6 Reasons for occupational mobility
6.1 The role of worker’s individual characteristics for occupational movements
6.1.1 Workers’ individual characteristics at the European level
6.1.2 Individual factors of occupational changes in Britain and Germany
6.1.3 The individual causes of occupational changes in the US
6.2 The role of wages to change the occupation
6.3 The influence of previous occupations
6.4 Effect of the firm size on occupational mobility
7 Occupational movement of the workers
8 Austrian empirical results
8.1 Datasets
8.1.1 EU-LFS dataset
8.1.2 AUSSDA dataset
8.1.3 Restrictions and weaknesses
8.2 Occupational mobility rates
8.3 Occupational movements
8.4 Influence of individual characteristics on occupational changes
8.5 Reasons for workers to look for another job
9 Conclusion
Research Objectives and Themes
The main objective of this thesis is to provide a comprehensive analysis of occupational mobility, with a specific focus on the Austrian labor market. The research investigates the theoretical foundations of occupational movements and synthesizes empirical evidence from various countries to better understand the drivers behind workers changing their occupations, such as individual characteristics, wage differentials, and firm size.
- Theoretical modeling of occupational mobility (horizontal vs. vertical re-sorting).
- Comparative empirical overview of occupational mobility in Europe, France, Germany, Britain, Denmark, and the US.
- Empirical examination of occupational mobility in Austria using EU-LFS and AUSSDA datasets.
- Analysis of the influence of individual characteristics (age, gender, education) on occupational changes.
- Evaluation of firm size and previous employment history as drivers for occupational transitions.
Excerpt from the Book
3 Occupational mobility: What is it and how to measure it
In general, an occupational change is the movement of a worker from one occupation to another. It does not matter if the movement occurs within a firm or between firms. Usually during this switch, the worker loses some accumulated skills, since the job in the new occupation requires, at least partly, new skills. This loss of skills is also known as a loss of occupational-specific human capital.
I define occupational mobility as the proportion of workers who undertake an occupational switch over the amount of people who are in a possible working age during the surveyed period.
How is now an occupational change identified in practice? During a survey, the individuals describe their current job. Based on this description the interviewer assigns a so-called occupational code to the worker’s occupation. In the literature, there are several references for classifying occupations. For instance, the region determines which type of classification is used. Another difference occurs with respect to the degree of aggregation of the occupational classes. The first degree is the one digit-level (1-digit level) with 10 roughly clustered occupational groups. A higher digit-level implies that the classification of each occupation becomes more precise. Typically, it is distinguished up to the 3-digit level but sometimes, some classifications divide up to a 4-digit level, which is then a very precise categorization of the occupations. Therefore, identifying an occupational change becomes more likely if the used digit-level increases. In Europe, the ISCO-08 classification is defined up to the four-digit level but used just up to three-digit level, see ILO (2012).
Summary of Chapters
1 Introduction: Provides an overview of occupational mobility as a research field and outlines the thesis's core contributions regarding theoretical and empirical insights, specifically for Austria.
2 Literature review: Surveys existing economic literature on occupational mobility, distinguishing between horizontal and vertical re-sorting approaches and summarizing key international studies.
3 Occupational mobility: What is it and how to measure it: Defines occupational mobility, discusses measurement challenges, and clarifies the distinction between occupational changes and job changes.
4 Theoretical concepts: Details the theoretical frameworks of horizontal and vertical re-sorting matches, explaining how worker learning and ability affect occupational choices.
5 Results overview of occupational mobility: Presents an empirical overview of occupational mobility rates across Europe, France, Germany, Britain, Denmark, and the United States.
6 Reasons for occupational mobility: Investigates the determinants of occupational mobility, including worker characteristics, wages, previous occupations, and firm size.
7 Occupational movement of the workers: Explores transition matrices as a method to illustrate the direction and frequency of occupational movements between occupations.
8 Austrian empirical results: Details the empirical analysis of Austrian data, presenting mobility rates, transition matrices, and probit estimations of individual characteristics.
9 Conclusion: Summarizes the main findings of the thesis and suggests avenues for future research regarding occupational mobility.
Keywords
Occupational mobility, Labor market, Human capital, Occupational change, Wage inequality, Vertical re-sorting, Horizontal re-sorting, ISCO-08, Job transition, Austria, Probit model, Career change, Employment, Labor economics, Skill accumulation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this master’s thesis?
The thesis focuses on analyzing occupational mobility, defined as the movement of workers between different occupations, and provides the first explicit empirical study of this phenomenon within the Austrian labor market.
What are the main theoretical approaches to occupational mobility?
The literature identifies two main approaches: the horizontal re-sorting approach, which assumes workers move to better-paying jobs to improve their wage outcomes, and the vertical re-sorting approach, which allows for both upward and downward movements based on a worker's learning about their own ability.
Why is measuring occupational mobility difficult in practice?
Measurement is difficult because it depends on how occupations are classified (level of aggregation), how surveys define a "change," and whether researchers account for unemployment spells or differences in interviewing methods.
What is the key difference between a job change and an occupational change?
A job change is simply switching employers or roles, which may occur within the same occupation without losing occupation-specific human capital. An occupational change involves moving to a new field, often requiring new skills and resulting in a loss of accumulated occupation-specific human capital.
What primary methodology does the author use for the Austrian empirical part?
The author uses two datasets (EU-LFS and AUSSDA) to calculate occupational mobility rates at different digit-levels and employs probit regression models to analyze how individual characteristics influence the probability of an occupational switch.
Which factors are identified as major drivers of occupational changes?
The thesis identifies wages, individual demographic characteristics (age, gender, education), previous occupation, and the size of the firm as significant factors influencing a worker's decision to change their occupation.
What does the empirical analysis reveal about occupational mobility in Austria?
The analysis indicates that Austrian occupational mobility rates are relatively low compared to other countries, suggesting an efficient labor market where workers choose their occupations carefully and face significant frictions when changing them.
How does firm size influence occupational mobility?
The findings suggest that larger firms generally have lower separation rates, but they may facilitate higher internal occupational mobility because they provide more diverse internal job opportunities for workers to find a better match.
- Quote paper
- Christian Grübler (Author), 2020, Occupational Mobility in Austria. Preferences and individual characteristics for the workers to undertake an occupational change, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/957840
