Declining labor turnover in the United States: evidence and implications from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics

Abstract

A growing body of literature points to a decline in employment dynamics in the United States. While aspects of this phenomenon have been documented, its causes remain murky. I examine job-to-job transitions using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a dataset that allows users to classify transitions as voluntary or involuntary. This distinction is important for identifying causes of the decline in transitions and for assessing the benefits and costs of changes in labor market fluidity. Using this data, I find that the aging of the workforce is responsible for nearly three-fifths of the measured decline in job-to-job transition rates.