Industry dynamics and highly qualified labor mobility

The literature on knowledge spillovers offers substantial evidence that workers, as main carriers of knowledge, play a role in the diffusion of knowledge among firms. One of the channels through which knowledge is diffused is the job-to-job mobility of workers. The research question addressed in this study is an empirical exploration of the industry-specific factors that influence the level of job-to-job mobility of highly qualified workers (HQWs) within three-digit industrial sectors. To this end, we use panel data based on the social security records of the German Federal Employment Agency. We find that HQW job-to-job mobility is dependent on technology-specific and an industry’s evolution-specific factors. The results show a significant and positive effect of the technological regime and the level of job destruction on the degree of voluntary and overall HQW mobility. The intra-industry mobility of this group is also affected by establishment-size effects, the inflow of HQWs from other industries, and the type of industry (service or manufacturing).