The hiring and firing decisions of individual businesses are one of the drivers behind movements in the unemployment rate during expansions and recessions. Whether a recession is driven by large job losses or weak hiring will greatly affect the composition and consequences of the unemployed and...

Most economic theories of hiring and job seeking assume that businesses post vacancies when they demand more labor. Workers then apply for the job, and the most qualified candidate is hired. However, as those who have ever recruited or applied for a job know, the recruiting process is...