RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Labor Market Concentration
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 1218-9914R1
DO 10.3368/jhr.monopsony.1218-9914R1
A1 José Azar
A1 Ioana Marinescu
A1 Marshall Steinbaum
YR 2020
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2020/05/04/jhr.monopsony.1218-9914R1.abstract
AB 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. Going from the 25th percentile to the 75th percentile in concentration is associated with a 5% (OLS) to 17% (IV) decline in posted wages, suggesting that concentration increases labor market power.