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Do informal contacts increase labor market inequality? Social ties, job access and wages for the unemployed

Author
Résumé

This paper analyzes, for a large sample of unemployed workers, who finds a job through a personal contact and how using a personal contact affects job quality. We argue that the distinction between work-related and communal contacts is decisive. Using a dataset for Switzerland which merges register data with a longitudinal survey of unemployed jobseekers, we find that work contacts are disproportionately used by privileged jobseekers: male mid-aged professionals and managers. In contrast, communal contacts act as search method of last resort; they are used by immigrants, the working class, the very young and elderly. Using a communal contact does not affect wages, but is associated with longer unemployment.

Année de publication
2015
Journal
LIVES Working Papers
Volume
038
Nombre de pages
1-30
Numéro ISSN
2296-1658
URL
https://centre-lives.ch/fr/bibcite/reference/19
DOI
10.12682/lives.2296-1658.2015.38
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