How Substitutable Are Workers? Evidence from Worker Deaths

Simon Jäger and Jörg Heining ()
Additional contact information
Jörg Heining: Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg

No 15717, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We estimate how exogenous worker exits affect firms' demand for incumbent workers and new hires. Drawing on administrative data from Germany, we analyze 34,000 unexpected worker deaths, which, on average, raise the remaining workers' wages and retention probabilities. The average effect masks substantial heterogeneity: Coworkers in the same occupation as the deceased see positive wage effects; coworkers in other occupations experience wage decreases when a high-skilled or specialized worker dies. Our findings imply substantial replacement costs, which are larger in thin markets and when skills are specialized.

Keywords: hiring costs; human capital specificity; labor market thickness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J20 J30 J63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 106 pages
Date: 2022-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hrm and nep-lma
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (25)

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Related works:
Working Paper: How Substitutable Are Workers? Evidence from Worker Deaths (2022)
Working Paper: How Substitutable Are Workers? - Evidence from Worker Deaths (2022)
Working Paper: How Substitutable Are Workers? Evidence from Worker Deaths (2022)
Working Paper: How Substitutable Are Workers? Evidence from Worker Deaths (2019)
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