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Abstract
Using Swedish economy-wide data, we examine the relationship between business-cycle conditions and the use of social contacts in the process where young workers are matched to their first real jobs. We measure social contacts acquired during paid work during high school, and we rely on interacted class-establishment fixed-effect models to isolate the effects of interest. One-third of post-graduation matches are formed at establishments where youths worked during their studies. Graduates are much more likely to match with sites to which adult co-workers from these jobs have relocated. The importance of these job-finding channels is strongly counter-cyclical for young labour market entrants.

We examine the impact of mismatch on entry wages, separations, and wage growth using unique data on worker talents. We show that workers are sorted on comparative advantage across jobs within occupations. The starting wages of inexperienced workers are unrelated to mismatch. For experienced workers, on the other hand, mismatch is negatively priced into their starting wages. Separations and wage growth are more strongly related to mismatch among inexperienced workers than among experienced workers. These findings are consistent with models of information updating, where less information is available about the quality of matches involving inexperienced workers. (JEL D83, J24, J31, J41, J63, J64)