Length of Service, Terminations and the Nature of the Employment Relationship

Katharine G. Abraham, James L. Medoff

NBER Working Paper No. 1086*
Issued in March 1983
NBER Program(s):   LS

---- Abstract -----

This paper presents new survey evidence that relative protection against job loss grows with length of service, independent of their net value to the firm. This protection makes good sense given that at most companies employees appear to earn less than their value marginal product in the early part of their tenure and more than their value marginal product in the latter part; without job protection policies for senior employees, the firm would have an incentive to terminate them when their "spot" earnings went above their "spot" value marginal product. In particular, we find that a very large percentage (over 95 percent) of hourly union members outside of agriculture and construction are covered by protective policies for senior workers and, that a somewhat smaller, but still substantial, percentage (about 85 percent) of comparable nonunion hourlies also have some protection against jobloss in their senior years. The potential reasons for these findings are briefly discussed.

*Published: Abraham, Katharine G. and James L. Medoff. "Length of Service and Layoffsin Union and Nonunion Work Groups." Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 38, No. 1, (October 1984), pp. 3-19.

Would you like an annual subscription to NBER Working Papers? Click here for more information.

You may purchase this paper on-line in .pdf format from SSRN.com ($5) for electronic delivery.
Information for subscribers and others expecting no-cost downloads

Machine-readable bibliographic record - MARC, RIS, BibTeX

 

 
Publications:
Main Publications Page
 
New This Week
Working Papers
Books              
Books in Progress
Older Books Online
Digest            
Reporter            
Bulletin on Aging & Health
Historical Bulletins
Free Subscriptions
Paid Subscriptions
 
Research:
Program descriptions and members
 
Working Group Descriptions and Papers
 
Selected Projects:
Conference on Research in Income and Wealth
Conference on Econometrics and Mathematical Economics
Sloan Science and Engineering Workforce Project
Boston Census Research Data Center
 
Call for Papers
Submit to WP Series             
 
Data:
NBER Collection
Business Cycle Dates
Latest Business Cycle Memo
New Economic Releases
Selected Sources
Current Population Survey
Economic Organizations
US Government Agencies
Other Data Collections

Economic Report of the President
Economic Indicators
Congressional Budget Office
OECD Frequently Requested Statistics
 
About
What is the NBER?
NBER Historical Archives
Non-data Links    
Search              
Help              
Contact us
Site Map
Employment              
Fellowships
 
People:
Staff
Researchers
Board
Contact Us
Search
 
Search via Google: