TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Ziegler, Lennart
        TI  - Labor Market Tightness and Hiring Outcomes: Evidence from Job Application Data
        PY  - 2026/Jul/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 18778
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18778
        AB  - This study examines how the supply of job applicants shapes hiring outcomes of firms. Using Austrian matched vacancy-worker data, my analysis exploits variation in the number of job applications, inferred from referrals made by the public employment service. To address endogeneity concerns, I instrument the number of applications with the inflow of jobseekers from mass layoffs. A larger supply of applicants shortens vacancy filling duration and raises the job tenure of hires, consistent with improved worker-firm match quality. At the same time, more applications lower starting wages, which indicates that the employer-bargaining channel dominates the match-quality channel. A larger applicant pool also reinforces worker segregation: firms with high shares of male (native) workers hire even fewer female (foreign) workers when applications are abundant. This reflects employer selection rather than a shift in the composition of the applicant pool, which responds little to the supply shock.
        KW  - labor market tightness
KW  - vacancies
KW  - recruitment
KW  - worker-firm match quality
KW  - wage setting
KW  - worker segregation
        ER  -