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The Value of Statistical Life and Quantification of Labor Market Frictions Cover

The Value of Statistical Life and Quantification of Labor Market Frictions

Open Access
|Jun 2026

Figures & Tables

Figure 1.

Hedonic Labor Market Equilibrium and Disequilibrium

Worker Welfare Comparisons Between Equilibrium and Disequilibrium, Derived from VSL and Expressed per Statistical Fatality (2001 dollars)

(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(ix)
(a)VSL for Occupation-or Industry-Switchers a$6.1 million$7 million$8.8 million$10 million
(b)Switcher and Non-Switcher Weighted Average VSL b$4.4 million$5.1 million$4.8 million$5.5 million
(c)Short-Run VSL c$5.8 M$6.6 M$8.2 M$8.6 M$6.7 M$7.6 M$9.5 M$9.8 M
(d)Long-Run VSL c$6.2 M$7.6 M$9.2 M$10.4 M$7.2 M$8.7 M$10.5 M$12 M
(e)In Year 0, Disequilibrium-vs-Equilibrium Worker Welfare Harm (per Statistical Fatality): (f) + [(d)-(c)]$2.5 M$3.7 M$3.9M$5.5 M$5.0 M$6.2 M$6.5 M$8.9 M
(f)In Year 2: (g) + [(d)-(c)]$2.1 M$2.7 M$2.9 M$3.7 M$4.5 M$5.1 M$5.5 M$6.7 M
(g)In Year 4: (a) – (b)$1.7 M$1.7 M$1.9 M$1.9 M$4.0 M$4.0 M$4.5 M$4.5 M
(h)In Year 6: (g) – [(d)-(c)]$1.3 M$0.7 M$0.9 M$0.1 M$3.5 M$2.9 M$3.5 M$2.3 M
(i)In Year 8: (h) – [(d)-(c)]$0.9 MFWIFWIFWI$3.0 M$1.8 M$2.5 M$0.1 M
(j)In Year 10: (i) – [(d)-(c)]$0.5 M $2.5 M$0.7 M$1.5 MFWI
(k)In Year 12: (j) – [(d)-(c)]$0.1 M $2.0 MFWI$0.5 M
(l)In Year 14: (k) – [(d)-(c)]FWI $1.5 M FWI
(m)In Year 16: (l) – [(d)-(c)] $1.0 M
(n)In Year 18: (m) – [(d)-(c)] $0.5 M
(o)In Year 20: (n) – [(d)-(c)] FWI

Employment-Related Welfare Effects

(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(ix)
Friction cost of job risk (could be avoided with voluntary unemployment), derived from Table I*$830$850$930$1,120$2,270$1,940$2,290$2,240
Friction cost of job loss, per Kuminoff et al.’s (2015) Table 1, panel C ExpansionNormal ConditionsRecession
Rehired at identical job after temporary layoff$1,230$1,620$2,490
Layoff leads to worker moving house$7,000$7,300$7,950
Language: English
Page range: 1 - 8
Published on: Jun 11, 2026
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 1 issue per year

© 2026 Elisabeth Ashley, published by Asociacion Española de Economia del Trabajo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License.