The Review of Economics and Statistics Vol. 105 No. 2 2023

Macroeconomic Conditions When Young Shape Job Preferences for Life

Maria Cotofan¹; Lea Cassar²; Robert Dur³; Stephan Meier⁴

¹ Department of Political Economy, King's College London · ² University of Regensburg, CESifo, and CEPR · ³ Erasmus University Rotterdam, Tinbergen Institute, CESifo, and IZA · ⁴ Columbia Business School, CESifo, and IZA

Abstract

Preferences for monetary and nonmonetary job attributes are important for understanding workers' motivation and the organization of work. Little is known, however, about how those job preferences are formed. We study how macroeconomic conditions when young shape workers' job preferences for life. Using variation in income-per-capita across U.S. regions and over time since the 1920s, we find that job preferences vary in systematic ways with experienced macroeconomic conditions during young adulthood. Recessions create cohorts of workers who give higher priority to income, whereas booms make cohorts care more about job meaning for the rest of their lives.

DOI

10.1162/rest_a_01057

Volume

105

Issue

2

Pages

467-473

Language

en

Sources

bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

Cite

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