Dynamics of employment and unemployment in the United States and West Germany

Abstract

Over the 1980s and 1990s, labor market dynamics have differed significantly between the United States and West Germany At comparable levels of aggregate unemployment, the U.S. labor market showed a considerably higher level of job dynamics and worker turnover, but also shorter durations of unemployment spells. At the same time, the social structure of these labor market processes in terms of skills, gender, ethnicity or age differentials has been remarkably similar in both economies, with economic adjustment pressures acting particularly on low-skilled and minority workers. Based on comparable employment history data for the period 1984-1995, the current chapter will describe such similarities and differences in labor market dynamics in the United States and West Germany in more detail.