Strategic referrals and on-the-job search equilibrium

Referrals are prevalent in the U.S. labor market. To understand their aggregate effects, this paper studies an equilibrium model of on-the-job search and job referrals. In the model, referrals are modeled as a strategic interaction between a referrer and a firm. The equi-librium model shows that referrals benefit job searchers whose outside option is above a threshold. I support this prediction by showing that the referral wage premium exists only for employed job searchers. Quantitatively, referrals contribute to the total output by 3.93% through transmitting information and reducing search costs. The information transmission explains about 28% of the effects.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.