An empirical study of job matching theory in Japanese labor market

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K01675
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 07050:Public economics and labor economics-related
• Research Institution: Fukuoka University
• Principal Investigator: TAMADA KEIKO 福岡大学, 経済学部, 教授 (80389337)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: スキルのミスマッチ / 賃金関数 / マッチング / 雇用保護規制 / 失業給付 / 積極的労働市場政策

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research examines the impact of skill mismatch on wages among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries according to labor market regulations. If workers and firms find low matching quality due to imperfect information, they may search for better matches. In frictional labor markets, skill-mismatched workers are less likely to change jobs owing to the low possibility that another firm will hire them, and firms will not fire workers because of high firing costs. I show not only the impact of skill mismatch on wages by country but also the importance of labor market regulations.
The results show that workers with skill surplus suffer from wage penalties, while workers with skill deficits enjoy wage premiums and that the higher the active labor market policy spending, the lower the impact of skill mismatch on wages. On the other hand, employment protection legislation and unemployment benefits do not affect the impact of skill mismatch on wages.

Free Research Field

労働経済学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の学術的意義は、スキルの過剰な場合は賃金が低くなり、不足している場合は賃金が高くなることを明らかにした点、スキルの過剰や不足による賃金のプレミアムとペナルティーは積極的労働市場政策により緩和されることを示した点である。筆者の知る限りスキルのミスマッチが賃金に与える影響がどのような政策と関わりがあるのかを分析した研究はないため、新たな知見を得ることができた。