1 DRAFT February 2004 Determinants of Job

In this paper, we apply search theory to ana lyze the determinants of job search success as measured by the wages earned by re-employed male and female Polish workers after a spell of unemployment in 1994-2001. In addition to a general examination of postunemployment earnings, this study focuses on several specific themes. In particular, we investigate (i) if the receipt of unemployment benefits permits workers to search more effectively for better job matches and, hence, earn a higher post-unemployment wage; (ii) if the past employment history (for example, pre-unemployment job tenure, occupation, industrial affiliation, etc.) is a significant determinant of the post-unemployment wage; (iii) if there are male-female differences in the determinants of the post-unemployment wage for displaced workers; (iv) if post-unemployment wages are different in private sector firms as compared to public sector firms, and if post-unemployment wages are affected by a shift from the public sector to the private sector (and vice versa) after an unemployment spell. While our findings on unemployment benefits and past employment history are rather mixed, there appear to be important male-female differences in way personal characteristics affect the post-unemployment wage. Further, the results present some evidence of a segmented (private versus public) labor market in the early years of transition, namely 1994-1996; however, the private sector wage premium as well as penalties for switching between the sectors seem to evaporate in the late 1990s. Job search, Reservation wage, Accepted wage, Transition economies, Poland JEL-Code: J64, P2 * School of Business Administration, University of Houston-Victoria, 3007 N. Ben Wilson, Victoria, TX 77901, USA; e-mail: [email protected]; ** College of Business and Economics, Lehigh University, 621 Taylor Street, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA; email [email protected].