The Determinants of Job Creation and Destruction: Plant-level Evidence for Eastern and Western Germany
We examine job creation and destruction in Eastern and Western Germany for the period of 2000 to 2006, using a comprehensive dataset that enables us to capture precisely gross job flows. Our analysis clearly states that pronounced differences between the two parts of Germany exist only in terms of the magnitude, but not in the composition of gross job gains and losses. This finding holds independently of the observed sector or size class of plants. Considering interaction effects between all variables, this first econometric analysis on gross job flows for Germany shows that job creation and destruction can be explained to a large part by plant characteristics. The pattern found in descriptive studies for other countries that job reallocation rates diminish with firm size is similarly true for Germany. The creation of jobs attenuates with plant age, while regional characteristics are only important for job destruction.