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Briefing
Switching Occupational Categories
Worker mobility, across jobs and across state lines, has fallen in recent decades. Changing jobs is one way workers gain new skills and improve their wages. New research also suggests that switching between white-collar and blue-collar occupations enables workers to learn valuable information about their abilities and the types of jobs they are best suited for. Any frictions inhibiting the ability of workers to switch occupations would be costly, particularly for young workers.
Working Paper
Learning and Life Cycle Patterns of Occupational Transitions
Data reveal that individuals experience a high number of occupational switches. Over 40% of high school graduates transition between white and blue collar occupations more than once between the ages of 18 and 28. This paper develops a life cycle model of occupational choices based on workers learning about their type and sorting themselves to the best job match. Documenting life cycle patterns of occupational choices using data from the NLSY79 supports key predictions from the model. Initial characteristics are predictive of future patterns of occupational switching, including the timing and ...