It is widely hypothesized that health insurance deters job mobility be
cause of imperfections in the labor and health insurance markets. This
paper describes the nature of the welfare loss attributable to such '
'job-lock'' and reviews several studies that empirically test the job-
lock hypothesis. The authors find that estimates of the magnitude and
importance of job-lock vary. Studies that support the job-lock hypothe
sis typically report a 20% to 40% reduction in mobility rates, dependi
ng on worker marital status and gender. Their own estimates suggest th
at although job-lock is present in the labor market, the proportion of
workers affected and the magnitude of the welfare loss are less than
generally supposed.