The effect of transitional employment on search duration: A selectivity approach

This paper presents an analysis of the impact of transitional employment (employment fully contained within a search spell) on search duration. Log-linear duration equations, which are derived from an accelerated time-life specification, are estimated separately for those who take and do not take a transitional job. Selectivity terms are included as additional regressors in the specification in order to control for the endogeneity of the decision to take a transitional job. The presence of right-censored search spells is controlled for and the standard errors are corrected to account for the inclusion of generated regressors. A searcher who takes a transitional job can expect to be searching for permanent employment almost eight months longer and has a substantially different escape pattern than a searcher who does not take a transitional job.The author has benefitted from discussions with and comments from many colleagues. Special thanks are extended to Insan Tunali for making his error-correction formulas available. Support from the Research Council of the College of Business Administration, Georgia State University, is gratefully acknowledged.