The Role of Selective Job Search in UK Unemployment

Selective search where unemployed job losers confine their job seeking efforts to matches in the pre-separation sector has attracted consid erable attention as a possible source of high and persistent unemployment. However, this idea is questionable. Those opting for selection may do so because this strategy is more effective at gener ating an acceptable offer. Using UK microdata I find evidence in support of the latter view. Selective searchers cannot account for the persistence of high unemployment since the early 1980s     

Deriving natural rates of unemployment for sub-national regions: the case of Canadian provinces

In order to pursue informed stabilization policies, it is vital for policy-markers to have estimates of how much of the total unemployment rate can be classified as cyclical rather than natural unemployment. This paper describes a method for generating regional natural-rate estimates and applies this method to the case of Canadian provinces. Results indicate that unemployment insurance generosity and relative minimum wages play an important role in determining natural unemployment rates in Canadian provinces. One of the enduring characteristics of the Canadian labour market has been substantial and peresistent unemployment rate disparities across provinces. The results of this study indicate that these disparities are primarily explained by differences in provincial values of structural variables such as unemployment generosity and by differences in provincial sensitivities to these structural variables. A furher result is that variation in cyclical unemployment rates is substantially less in the traditionally high unemployment region of Atlantic Canada than it is in the traditionally low unemployment province of Ontario. This result implies that the most appropriate policies to reduce unemployment in Atlantic Canada are not regionally-applied expenditure policies but rather policies designed to reduce structural distortions in the provincial labour markets.     

UNEMPLOYMENT PERSISTENCE AND THE SUSTAINABILITY OF EXCHANGE RATE PEGS

It is commonly thought that an open economy can accommodate output shocks through either exchange rate or real sector adjustments. We formalize this notion by incorporating unemployment persistence into a two‐sided escape clause model of currency crises. We show that unemployment persistence makes a currency peg more fragile and undermines the credibility of the monetary authority in a dynamic setting. The fragility is captured by a devaluation premium in expectations that increases the average inflation rate when the currency peg is more vulnerable to ‘busts’ than ‘booms’. This interaction between macroeconomic and microeconomic rigidities suggests that a policy reform can only be consistent if it renders either exchange rates or the economy more flexible.     

UNEMPLOYMENT PERSISTENCE AND THE NAIRU: A BAYESIAN APPROACH

This paper estimates the United States and euro area NAIRU in a Bayesian framework. We set out a simple structural model explaining unemployment by demand and supply factors, which are treated as unobserved variables that have observable effects on measured unemployment, output and inflation. The model allows for unemployment persistence and a time-varying core inflation rate. The results show that although cyclical shocks are very persistent, most of the increase in European unemployment is driven by structural factors. The degree of persistence is lower in the United States but demand shocks seem to be more important in explaining variation in unemployment.     

Matching in segmented labor markets: An analytical proposal based on high-dimensional contingency tables

The Spanish economy has a very problematic labor market characterized by high and persistent levels of unemployment, elevated long-term unemployment, strong segmentation and low regional mobility, among other drawbacks. This paper uses labor matching data from a large database of administrative microdata (Continuous Sample of Working Lives, MCVL) and structures them into a contingency table which cross-classifies the information of workers and jobs at provincial and occupational levels. The association analysis performed allows us to identify a more precise vision of the structure of the labor market, and a better design regarding active labor market policies. Our results demonstrate, for example, that highly isolated markets and those that influence the entire national territory coexist in the Spanish labor market. Finally, we also propose a new smoothing method in order to deal with typical statistical problems in sparse contingency tables, such as the existence of non-structural zero frequencies or sparsity.     

A further investigation of unemployment persistence in European transition economies

This paper analyses the dynamics of the unemployment rate in the eight countries from Central and Eastern Europe which joined the EU in 2004. Unit root tests allowing for nonlinearities and structural changes suggest that the unemployment rate is not stationary in most of the sample countries. Tests allowing for fractional integration, however, reveal that shocks are highly persistent, implying a slow rate of convergence to the natural rate of unemployment. The unemployment rate is least persistent in Hungary and Slovenia, more persistent in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Baltic States and extremely persistent in Poland. The degree of persistence appears to reflect the different levels of economic and institutional development in the countries and possibly also the role of the government.     

Convergence in West German Regional Unemployment Rates

Abstract. Differences in regional unemployment rates are often used to describe regional economic inequality. This paper asks whether changes in regional unemployment differences in West Germany are persistent over time. Understanding the persistency of regional unemployment differences helps us to assess how effective regional policy can be. While univariate tests suggest that changes in regional unemployment differences are persistent in West Germany, more powerful panel tests lend some support to the hypothesis that regional unemployment rates converge. However, these tests reveal a moderate speed of convergence at best. Because there is a structural break following the second oil crisis, we also use tests that allow for such a break. This provides evidence for both convergence and quick adjustment to an equilibrium distribution of regional unemployment rates that is, however, subject to a structural break.     

Regional unemployment and human capital in transition economies1

Differences in regional unemployment in post‐communist economies are large and persistent. We show that within‐country regional variation in inherited human capital in four such economies explains the bulk of regional variation in unemployment; we explore potential explanations. Our evidence suggests that internal skill‐biased migration and the flow of foreign direct investment are not working as adjustment mechanisms but rather help explain the lack of convergence in regional unemployment rates. Although this capital and labour mobility pattern is consistent with the presence of regional skill spillovers, we find little support for this hypothesis. Instead, the observed migration pattern appears to arise from different skill‐specific adjustments to regional shocks brought about in part by labour‐market institutions such as guaranteed welfare income.     

Modelling the Persistence of Unemployment in Canada

The persistence of unemployment in Canada is examined in this article by means of fractionally integrated techniques. Using Sowell's (1992) procedure of estimating ARFIMA models by maximum likelihood along with other techniques, we show that the order of integration of the series is higher than one, implying that unemployment is a highly persistent variable.     

The persistence of unemployment in the USA and Europe in terms of fractionally ARIMA models

This article examines the persistence of unemployment in the USA and four European countries by means of fractionally integrated ARMA (ARFIMA) models. In doing so, a type of flexibility in modelling low-frequency dynamics not achieved by non-fractionally ARIMA models can be provided. The results indicate that the unemployment series are much more persistent in some countries such as the UK and France, than in others including Germany or the USA.     

A sectoral approach to Okun’s Law

The study adds to the existing literature on the relationship between output and unemployment by using a sectoral specification of Okun’s Law to capture the differential sensitivity of the unemployment rate to output developments in the services and manufacturing sectors. Using quarterly data for the period between 2000 and 2012, we show that Malta’s unemployment rate has been more sensitive to output developments in the services sector than to those in the manufacturing sector. We use different equation specifications and the youth unemployment rate to show that the impact resulting from developments in the manufacturing sector occurs mainly via lay-offs while developments in the services sector affect the unemployment rate via the hiring of new entrants into the labour market.     

Robust tests for time-invariant individual heterogeneity versus dynamic state dependence

We derive tests for persistent effects in a general linear dynamic panel data context. Two sources of persistent behavior are considered: time-invariant unobserved factors (captured by an individual random effect) and dynamic persistence or “state dependence” (captured by autoregressive behavior). We will use a maximum likelihood framework to derive a family of tests that help researchers learn whether persistence is due to individual heterogeneity, dynamic effect, or both. The proposed tests have power only in the direction they are designed to perform, that is, they are locally robust to the presence of alternative sources of persistence, and consequently, are able to identify which source of persistence is active. A Monte Carlo experiment is implemented to explore the finite sample performance of the proposed procedures. The tests are applied to a panel data series of real GDP growth for the period 1960–2005.     

The impact of recession on drinking and smoking behaviours in Canada

Using longitudinal data from the Canadian National Population Health Survey (1994-2009), this study examined the impact of macroeconomic conditions as measured by the provincial unemployment rate on individual alcohol drinking and smoking behaviour. After controlling for unobserved individual specific heterogeneity, the study found that for the overall sample, unemployment rate has a significant positive impact on weekly alcohol consumption as well as on the probability of being a binge drinker. The study further found that unemployment rate has a significant positive impact on the number of cigarettes smoked by the daily smokers. However, unemployment rate has no impact on the probability of being a smoker. The study further examined whether or not there is a gender difference in the impact of unemployment rate on drinking and smoking behaviour. The results suggest that the impact of unemployment rate on drinking and smoking behaviour is more pronounced for males than for females.     

Is the Euro-Area core price index really more persistent than the food and energy price indexes?

The purpose of this paper is to measure the degree of persistence of the overall, core, food and energy Harmonized Indexes of Consumer Prices for the European Monetary Zone (HICP-EAs) and to identify its implications for decision-making in the private sector and in public policy.Using a non-parametric approach, our results demonstrate the presence of a statistically significant level of persistence in four HICP-EAs: headline, core, food and energy. Moreover, contrary to popular belief, the core index does not reflect permanent price changes. We also find evidence that the food and energy price indexes are more volatile and more persistent than the other two price indexes. Our results also show a reduction in persistence for both the headline and the core price indexes after the implementation of the single monetary policy, but not for food and energy.These results have important implications for both the private sector and for policymakers who use the core price index as a reference in their decision-making. In particular, core price index can lead to erroneous perception of price movements.     

我国钢铁行业全要素能源效率实证分析——基于省际面板数据

基于DEA的非参数分析,对我国钢铁行业28个省份在1992～2008年间的全要素能源效率（TFEE）的变化进行了测算,并按七大经济区对我国钢铁行业全要素能源效率的区域差异和节能潜力进行了分析。结果表明：（1）目前我国钢铁行业能源利用效率提高潜力巨大;（2）能源调整量主要集中在中部、大西南、大西北三大经济区;（3）我国钢铁行业的全要素能源效率与区域经济的发展水平呈现“U型”关系,钢铁行业规模递增效应对钢铁行业全要素生产率的促进作用在集约型扩张阶段才能凸显出来;（4）技术进步是影响钢铁能效的主要原因。     

Time Varying Structural Vector Autoregressions and Monetary Policy

Monetary policy and the private sector behaviour of the U.S. economy are modelled as a time varying structural vector autoregression, where the sources of time variation are both the coefficients and the variance covariance matrix of the innovations. The paper develops a new, simple modelling strategy for the law of motion of the variance covariance matrix and proposes an efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm for the model likelihood/posterior numerical evaluation. The main empirical conclusions are: (1) both systematic and non-systematic monetary policy have changed during the last 40 years|in particular, systematic responses of the interest rate to inflation and unemployment exhibit a trend toward a more aggressive behaviour, despite remarkable oscillations; (2) this has had a negligible effect on the rest of the economy. The role played by exogenous non-policy shocks seems more important than interest rate policy in explaining the high inflation and unemployment episodes in recent U.S. economic history.     

Time variation in inflation persistence: New evidence from modelling US inflation

This article explores how inflation persistence relates to the conduct and goals of monetary policy by presenting a new approach to modelling US inflation persistence and the Fed's dual mandate. Our framework fills a gap in pre-existing models by more flexibly accounting for diverse dynamic properties and shocks. Estimating a Phillips Curve model augmented with inflation volatilities and expectations, we find that the degree of monthly inflation persistence is time variant since World War II. Variations in persistence continue to be observed regardless of the absolute level of inflation and the extent of the trade-off between inflation and unemployment. We demonstrate that inflation persistence varies in line with expectations formed by memories of past inflation. This supports the case for more flexible monetary policy at times, as in the 1980s or especially the present decade, when inflation is more persistent.     

Economic growth,structural change,and search unemployment

Economic growth is driven by structural change. Structural change does not come without a cost. The most evident social cost of structural change is high and persistent unemployment. This paper develops a model with an endogenously expanding service sector, where the constant flow of workers in and out of employment leads to structural unemployment. The main finding is that the level of unemployment is different between the initial period and the long-run equilibrium growth path, and that along the transition path, the level of unemployment will overshoot its equilibrium level, which can explain the long-run pattern of unemployment in most industrialized countries.      

Wage Cyclicality and Composition Bias in the Norwegian Economy*

Using employer–employee register data, I estimate the real wage semi-elasticity of aggregate unemployment for the years 1997–2014 in the Norwegian private sector. An increase of 1 percentage point in aggregate unemployment is associated with an average decrease of 2 percent in (total) daily wages. Although Norway has influential labor market institutions, wages in the Norwegian private sector are quite sensitive to business-cycle fluctuations. Gender differences in wage cyclicality and compositional variation are considerable. Men have significantly more procyclical wages than women, and appear more likely to upgrade procyclically to better-paying firms.