This paper reviews recent literature on job gains and job losses. Economies exhibit high rates of gross job reallocation - both high levels of job gains and job losses. For the OECD nations for which data are available, total turnover averaged more than twenty per cent during the 1980s. This is a result of differing behaviour of establishments (firms) in the face of similar general economic conditions.

Two streams have developed in the literature in attempting to characterize the influence of structural change on job turnover. The first sees structural turnover as continuous, and emphasizes the importance of establishment openings as the primary means through which more significant changes in an economy occur. An alternative view emphasizes the concentration of job losses stemming from structural change in cyclical downturns. The timing and pace of structural change can have an important influence on labour market policies.

The behaviour of the four components of job turnover over ...