Even in countries with high average job security, workers with low tenure typically enjoy very limited job protection. This study analyzes the impact of such a feature on job duration. It uses a 1999 British reform that increased job security for workers with 1–2 years of tenure. The firing hazard for these workers decreased by 26% relative to the hazard for workers with 2–4 years of tenure. The firing hazard for workers with 0–1 year of tenure also decreased by 19%, which is consistent with better recruitment practices and hence improved match quality.

On the leading job board CareerBuilder.com, high-wage job postings unexpectedly attract fewer applicants, and this is the case even within a detailed occupation. Viewed through the lens of our directed search model, this negative relationship is indicative of substantial applicant heterogeneity within an occupation. Empirically, we find that job title heterogeneity is key: within a job title, jobs with 10% higher wages do attract 7.7% more applicants. Furthermore, our findings are consistent with a higher return to worker quality for hires in “manager” and “senior” job titles. Overall, our findings demonstrate the power of words in the matching process.