Sources of Job and Worker Flows: Evidence from a Panel of Regions

This study explores the structure and the dynamics of regional job and worker flows. The measures of job and worker flows are related to economic fluctuations, demographic factors and industry structure by employing the data of 85 Finnish regions over the period 1988-97. It is shown that labour market dynamics differ markedly between regions. As in previous analyses of linked employer-employee data, job and worker flows are shown to behave cyclically. In addition, the results indicate that observable differences in regional productivity, in-migration, demographics and industry structure help to explain the prevailing disparities in regional labour markets. Copyright 2004, CEIS, Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.