Labour turnover in Germany: The dynamics of worker transitions and their impact factors

This is partly due to the fact that worker outflows are largely driven by employee resignations, which follow a procyclical pattern regarding the business cycle. While from the macroeco¬nomic perspective job-to-job transitions ensure an improved allocation of resources, high employee turnover is often seen as a signal for low employee retention. However, only few companies (around 9 percent in 2016) were actu¬ally concerned about the extent of their workforce turnover in the subsequent years. In fact, labour turnover and employment dynamics are regarded as strongly influenced by firm characteristics, such as its competitive pressure and a firm’s HR strategy. In contrast, the diversity of the workforce in terms of gender, age distribution and cultural background is of less importance for the dynamics of labour turnover. Regarding skilled labour shortages in con¬nection with structural changes brought about by the ecological and digital transformation, labour turnover may well gain even further importance as both a macroeconomic key figure and a KPI in corporate management.