Thursday, December 4, 2025. The third edition of the LM²C² 2025 International Workshop, organized by the Millennium Nucleus LM²C² (Labor Market Mismatch: Causes and Consequences), brought together a diverse group of economists and sociologists from leading universities worldwide. The event served as a platform for cutting-edge research on social mobility, inequality, and the deep transformations currently reshaping labor markets.

Over two days, presentations from UC Berkeley, Northwestern University, the University of California Santa Barbara, the University of Groningen, the University of Turin, as well as specialists from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, the University of Chile, Universidad de los Andes and UNAB, set the tone for a meeting that showcased new evidence on social mobility, gender inequality, employer market power, telework, and other structural changes redefining how labor markets function.

Social mobility and gender occupational segregation

The opening session featured presentations by Mauricio Bucca (UC) and Sarah Thébaud (UC Santa Barbara). Bucca presented new evidence on why some groups experience greater intergenerational mobility than others, highlighting the role of social stratification and persistent differences in opportunity. Thébaud, in turn, presented an innovative experimental study showing how stereotypes about “feminine” and “masculine” preferences can reproduce occupational segregation, even in contexts with formal equality policies.

Keynote: Gender inequality within organizations

The keynote of the first day was delivered by Katherine Weisshaar (Northwestern University), whose research documents how visibility in meetings, performance evaluation patterns, and the organizational burden of unpaid work contribute to gender inequality within firms. Her findings show that bias affects not only access to opportunities but also career trajectories and promotion prospects for women across sectors.

Telework, market power, and the effects of job loss

The second day began with presentations by Agnieszka Postepska (University of Groningen) and Benjamin Villena (UNAB), who analyzed the effects of hybrid and remote work on gender gaps, wages, and talent allocation. These studies provide recent evidence on how post-pandemic work arrangements are shaping new inequalities.

The day’s keynote was delivered by Benjamin Schoefer (UC Berkeley), who presented findings on employer market power and its implications for wages, mobility, bargaining, and the aggregate efficiency of labor markets. His work incorporates high-resolution administrative data and structural models that shed light on how these frictions operate across countries.

Labor market mismatches and economic consequences

The workshop also featured research by Santiago Truffa, Pablo Muñoz, Giovanni Mastrobuoni, Tomás Guanziroli, Lennart Ziegler, and Maximilliano Dvorkin, addressing topics such as talent allocation, gender gaps following unemployment, crime associated with employment shocks, occupational licensing, and structural unemployment. These studies advance our understanding of how labor market frictions affect productivity, the distribution of opportunities, and the social costs associated with occupational mismatch.

A space to strengthen networks and new research agendas

The 2025 International Workshop consolidated LM²C²’s position as a regional leader in the study of labor market mismatches and inequality. The event not only showcased frontier research but also fostered academic collaborations, methodological discussions, and the development of research agendas with the potential to inform public policy.

The meeting reaffirmed the Millennium Nucleus’s commitment to interdisciplinary research, advanced human capital development, and the production of evidence to better understand and address the challenges facing labor markets amid profound structural change.