Labor Market Concentration

Arbeitspapier

A product market is concentrated when a few firms dominate the market. Similarly, a labor market is concentrated when a few firms dominate hiring in the market. Using data from the leading employment website CareerBuilder.com, we calculate labor market concentration for over 8,000 geographic-occupational labor markets in the US. Based on the DOJ-FTC horizontal merger guidelines, the average market is highly concentrated. Using a panel IV regression, we show that going from the 25th percentile to the 75th percentile in concentration is associated with a 17% decline in posted wages, suggesting that concentration increases labor market power.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 11254

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: General ; Monopsony; Segmented Labor Markets ; Antitrust Issues and Policies: General
• Subject: monopsony ; oligopsony ; labor markets ; competition policy

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Azar, José ; Marinescu, Ioana E. ; Steinbaum, Marshall
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2017

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/177058
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET