Social Networks in the Labor Markets

研究人员早就意识到，许多工人是通过朋友和亲戚找到工作的。调查证据显示，大约一半的员工是通过个人关系找到工作的。劳动力市场的双方——工人和公司——似乎都从员工推荐的使用中受益。工人和公司广泛使用推荐表明，社会结构——连接个人的社会关系模式——可能在决定劳动力市场结果方面发挥重要作用。特别是，社会网络中的近亲繁殖偏见（群体内关系的普遍存在）和三合会偏见（小集团的普遍存在）可能会降低劳动力市场的效率，增加不平等。这个项目的目的是分析这些网络偏差的影响。需要解决的问题包括：(1)这些社会结构的变化如何影响劳动力市场的结果？(2)求职方式、网络结构、工资与就业之间存在怎样的均衡关系？特别令人感兴趣的是，社会网络对劳动力市场不平等的解释是否与劳动力微观数据中观察到的相关性一致。这个项目很重要，因为它可以帮助我们更好地理解为什么在工资和其他劳动力市场结果方面存在持续的种族和性别差异。

Researchers have long realized that many workers find jobs through friends and relatives. Survey evidence suggests that about half of all workers found their jobs through personal contacts. Both sides of the labor market-- workers and firms-- appear to benefit from the use of employee referrals. The widespread use of referrals by workers and firms suggests that social structure--the pattern of social ties connecting individuals--may play an important role in determining labor- market outcomes. In particular, inbreeding bias (the prevalence of intra-group ties) and triad bias (the prevalence of cliques) in social networks may reduce labor-market efficiency and increase inequality. The purpose of this project is to analyze the implications of these network biases. Among the questions to be addressed are: (1) How do changes in these social structures affect labor market outcomes? (2) What is the equilibrium relationship among job-search method, network structure, wages, and employment? Of special interest is whether social network explanations of labor market inequality are consistent with observed correlations in labor force micro data. The project is important because it may help us to better understand why there are persistent racial and gender differences with respect to wages and other labor market outcomes.