Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Nonstandard Forms And Measures Of Employment And Unemployment In Transition: A Comparative Study Of Estonia, Romania, And Russia, J. David Brown, John S. Earle, Vladimir Gimpelson, Rostislav Kapeliushnikov, Hartmut Lehmann, Álmos Telegdy, Irina Vantu, Ruxandra Visan, Alexandru Voicu

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper looks behind the standard, publicly available labor force statistics relied upon in most studies of transition economy labor markets. We analyze microdata on detailed labor force survey responses in Russia, Romania, and Estonia to measure nonstandard, boundary forms and alternative definitions of employment and unemployment. Our calculations show that measured rates are quite sensitive to definition, particularly in the treatment of household production (subsistence agriculture), unpaid family helpers, and discouraged workers, while the categories of part-time work and other forms of marginal attachment are still relatively unimportant. We find that tweaking the official definitions in apparently minor ways …

2006-3 Axel Leijonhufvud And The Quest For Micro-Foundations -- Some Reflections, David Laidler

Economic Policy Research Institute. EPRI Working Papers

No abstract provided.

2006 Year In Review: Slow And Steady Does It For 2006, Alan Clayton-Matthews

Public Policy and Public Affairs Faculty Publication Series

The state’s economy continued to expand in 2006, continuing a path of slow, steady growth that began in 2003. By most measures, such as employment, output, labor force, and population growth, it was the best year so far of the recovery, but not by much; and the pace of expansion has been much slower than that of the two prior ones of the 1990s and 1980s. Weighing on the economic accomplishments of the year was a decline in the housing market and a rise in unemployment of the state’s residents, setting the stage for a likely slowing of growth in …

Unemployment And Labor Force Participation Rates Among Racial/Ethnic Groups And Latino Nationalities In The New York Metro Area And The Five Boroughs, Laura Limonic

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction:

This report details the unemployment rates among Latino origin groups and racial/ethnic groups in the New York Metro area. The data are broken down by boroughs and by the eight largest Latino origin groups in New York: Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Mexicans, Cubans, Colombians, Guatemalans, Peruvians and Ecuadorians.

Methods:

The data for this report were derived from the 2005 American Community Survey published by the U.S. Census Bureau. Data examined in this report are unemployment rates and rates of labor force non-participation rates. The U.S. Census classifies those not in the labor force as anyone who is not working nor …

Michigan's Economic Competitiveness And Public Policy, Timothy Bartik

Timothy J. Bartik

No abstract provided.

The Incidence And Cost Of Job Loss In The Ukrainian Labor Market, Hartmut Lehmann, Norberto Pignatti, Jonathan Wadsworth

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We examine the effects of economic transition on the pattern and costs of worker displacement in Ukraine, using the Ukrainian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (ULMS) for the years 1992 to 2002. Displacement rates in the Ukrainian labor market average between 3.4 and 4.8 percent of employment, roughly in line with levels typically observed in several Western economies, but considerably larger than in Russia. The characteristics of displaced workers are similar to those displaced in the West, in so far as displacement is concentrated on the less skilled. Around one third of displaced workers find re-employment immediately while the majority continues into …

The Impact Of Trade Liberalization On Growth, Unemployment, And Poverty In Bangladesh, Maha Z. Mirza

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Trade liberalization has been one of the major policy components of the governments of the developing countries in the recent decades. Bangladesh as many other developing nations, has adopted different measures of trade reform policies as an element of International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Structural Adjustment Program (SAP), as well as to be an integral part of the world wide trend of globalization. Such policy measures include the reduction/rationalization of tariff rate, simplification of import and export trade procedures, relaxation of restrictive trade policies, and reform of financial and monetary policies. Even though, the trade reform measures were anticipated to increase …

2005-02 Keynes And The Birth Of Modern Macroeconomics, David Laidler

Economic Policy Research Institute. EPRI Working Papers

No abstract provided.

A Reappraisal Of The Inflation-Unemployment Tradeoff, Marika Karanassou, Hector Sala, Dennis Snower

Dennis Snower

This paper offers a reappraisal of the inflation-unemployment tradeoff, based on "frictional growth", describing the interplay between nominal frictions and money growth. Whe the money supply growth in the presence of price inertia (due to staggered wage contracts with time discounting), the price adjustments to each successive change in the money supply are never able to work themselves out fully. In this context, temporary nominal rigidities let monetary policy have permanent real effects. Although our theory contains no money illusion, no permanent nominal rigidities, and no departure from rational expectations, there is a long-run inflation-unemployment tradeoff. Our empirical analysis suggests …

Future Job Prospects In Singapore, Hian Teck Hoon

Research Collection School Of Economics

No abstract provided.

Asynchronous Risk: Unemployment, Equity Markets, And Retirement Savings, Jason S. Seligman, Jeffrey Brian Wenger

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The link between unemployment and pension accumulations is conceptually straightforward; periods of unemployment lead to lower pension contributions, and thus to lower accumulations. However, impacts on accumulation may differ as a result of the timing and frequency of unemployment spells. We hypothesize that unemployment is more likely during periods in which the equities market experiences greater than average returns, largely due to a lead/lag structure of the stock and labor markets, respectively. This would imply that workers may systematically miss opportunities to purchase equities through DC plans when prices are relatively low. To test this hypothesis, we match historic stock …

Income, Work And Freedom, Philip L. Harvey

ExpressO

The ability of public policies to secure the economic and social rights recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is proposed as a trumping supplement to the utility-maximization criterion of neo-classical welfare economics. Two progressive proposals for ending poverty and promoting personal development and freedom are then compared using this assessment criterion. The first proposal is that society guarantee everyone an unconditional basic income (BI) without imposing work requirements in exchange for the guarantee. The second proposal is that society use direct job creation to provide employment assurance (EA) for anyone who is unable to find decent work in …

What Are Jobs Worth?, Joseph Persky, Daniel Felsenstein, Virginia Carlson

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Fairness As A Source Of Hysteresis In Employment And Relative Wages, Peter Skott

Economics Department Working Paper Series

This paper analyses the inlfuence of norms of fairness on wage formation. Fairness is defined by 'real-wage' and 'relative-wage' norms that relate wage offers to workers' own current wage and to the wages of other groups of workers, and, to avoil shirking, firms pay their wages. The wage norms change endogenously, and the result is hysteresis with respect to both employment and the distribution of wages. An extention of the model that allows 'induced overeducation' may help explain trends in wage inequality.

Does "Trickle Down" Work?: Economic Development Strategies And Job Chains In Local Labor Markets, Joseph Persky, Daniel Felsenstein, Virginia Carlson

Upjohn Press

Persky, Felsenstein, and Carlson explore a new framework for evaluating state and local economic development efforts. They propose a method, referred to as the “job-chains approach,” that they say clarifies the potential justifications for economic development subsidies as well as the limitations surrounding these efforts. This innovative approach addresses not only the number of job vacancies created as a result of a subsidized business investment or expansion, but also the extent to which gains are achieved by the unemployed and the underemployed, whether skilled or unskilled.

Wage Inequality And Skill Asymmetries, Peter Skott, Paul Auerbach

Peter Skott

Using a simple model with two levels of skill, we assume that high skill workers who fail to get high skill jobs may accept low skill positions; low skill workers do not have the analogous option of filling high skill position. This asymmetry implies that an adverse, skill neutral shock to aggregate employment may cause an increase in wage inequality, both between and within skill categories, as well as an increase in unemployment, especially among low skill workers. Movements in productivity, unemployment and inequality may thus be linked to induced overeducation and credentialism.

The Real Effects Of Money Growth In Dynamic General Equilibrium, Liam Graham, Dennis Snower

Dennis Snower

Dynamic New Keynesian models generally ignore steady state money growth. Within a standard New Keynesian framework, we show that the interaction between staggered nominal contracts and money growth leads to a long-run trade-off between output and money growth that is significant, and remains so when the contract length is endogenised. We show that the existence of the tradeoff depends crucially on a phenomenon we call employment cycling: firms’ substitution among different labor types over the course of the contract period. We discuss the plausibility of this phenomenon and show that when it is absent, money becomes super-neutral.

Unemployment In The European Union: A Dynamic Reappraisal, Marika Karanassou, Hector Sala, Dennis Snower

Dennis Snower

This paper examines the movements in EU unemployment from two perspectives: (a) the NRU/NAIRU perspective, in which unemployment movements are attributed largely to changes in the long-run equilibrium unemployment rate and (b) the chain-reaction perspective, in which unemployment movements are viewed as the outcome of the interplay between labor market shocks and prolonged lagged adjustment processes. We present an empirical analysis that distinguishes between unemployment movements arising from long-run equilibrium changes and those arising from lagged intertemporal adjustments. This analysis has far-reaching policy implications. Our analysis shows that the rise in EU unemployment over the 1970s and first part of …

2003-04 Migration And Pollution, Raghbendra Jha, John Whalley

Department of Economics Research Reports

No abstract provided.

The Return Of The Long-Run Phillips Curve, Liam Graham, Dennis Snower

Dennis Snower

This paper shows that the interaction between money growth and staggered nominal contracts gives rise to a long-run inflation-unemployment tradeoff.

Unemployment Scarring In High Unemployment Regions, Claudio Lupi, Patrizia Ordine

Claudio Lupi

This paper investigates the effect of individual unemployment experiences on re-employment wages. The empirical analysis is carried out on a panel of Italian individuals. The main result is that while in the northern regions the effect is similar to the one estimated for the UK, in the southern area of the country the impact is not significant. We link this result to the particular socio-economic environment in which the unemployment spells are experienced. We argue that this might be due to the fact that in a high unemployment environment individual unemployment experiences are perceived as "normal" and do not necessarily …

Restructuring The Educational System As A Long-Term Solution To The Unemployment Problem In Nigeria., Abraham B. Borishade

Bullion

The educational process, formal or informal consciously created, represents an essential investment necessary for industrialization; such education must be planned to fit the needs of a changing society so that as the Urban complex grows and demands expand. Education is the key with which to unlock the economic potential of the people. In contemporary developing countries, there is an incongruous relationship between education and their economies. This is reflected in the rising pool of the phenomenon of educated unemployed more than ever before. This paper examines the increasing problem associated with unemployment in Nigeria. The author conclude that It is …

Evaluation Of Past Policy Measures For Solving Unemployment Problems., Nicholas A. Damachi

Bullion

The issue of persistent unemployment and overall manpower planning and utilization poses a great challenge to policy planners, human resources experts, and persons dealing with employment programmed planning and implementation. This paper undertakes a review and evaluation of the past policy measures that have been adopted to solve unemployment problems in the county. There is strong need for institutional collaboration and improved coordination of policy measures for dealing with unemployment. This paper has examined Past policy measures for solving unemployment problems. There is strong need for institutional collaboration and improved coordination of policy measures for dealing with unemployment. While there …

2001-02 Public Profit Sharing, Ronnie Schoeb

Department of Economics Research Reports

No abstract provided.

A Case Of The Philips Curve In The Formation Of A Monetary Union: A Glimpse At High Inflation Countries Of The European Monetary Union, Yuet Wen Wan

University Avenue Undergraduate Journal of Economics

This paper examines how disinflation in high inflation economies affects unemployment levels. According to Keynesian macroeconomic theories, a decrease in inflation will cause an increase in unemployment in the short run. Due to high inflation over the years among countries like Italy and Ireland, their expected inflation rate is significantly high. As a result, when the government starts a process of disinflation though restrictive fiscal and monetary policies, economic activity declines, and significant short run increase in unemployment follows.

Group Wage Curves, Timothy J. Bartik

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Using panel data on U.S. MSAs, this paper estimates how a typical MSA's wages of different demographic groups, and prices, are affected by overall MSA unemployment, the distribution of unemployment among different groups, and national prices and wages. MSA unemployment has strong effects on MSA wages and prices, but the distribution of unemployment among different groups has weak effects on wages and prices. Using these estimates, simulations show that targeting high-unemployment groups for unemployment reductions will not reduce wage or price inflation pressures. The estimates also show that the effects of MSA unemployment on prices and disadvantaged groups' wages are …

Time-Variant Institutions: Implications For European Unemployment, Nathaniel Stankard

Honors Papers

The upward trend of European unemployment begs many questions, the most basic of which is why unemployment continues to climb after twenty-five years. Adverse shocks, rigid labor market institutions, and their interaction are used to explain this persistence and the differences in individual country experiences.

While these models do indeed answer both questions to some extent, they assume that institutions predate the rise in unemployment, often treating them as static. By compiling extant data series and constructing my own, I find that this assumption is weak, and that the evolution of institutions is far from static.

I create and estimate …

The Phillips Curve In The 1990s, Hayden Smith

University Avenue Undergraduate Journal of Economics

This paper will explore whether or not the Phillips curve relationship exists for the 1990s. I will attempt to estimate a Phillips curve for the past decade using data for the United States. In section two, I will explain the theory behind the Phillips curve and how the theory has evolved. In section three, I will present a literature review discussing previous research and results. Section four will present my empirical model and data. In section 5, I will present my results and discuss econometric problems such as serial correlation that may lead to biased estimates. In section six I …

Promoting Self Employment Among The Unemployed In Hungary And Poland, Christopher J. O'Leary

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

To evaluate the effectiveness of self-employment assistance to the unemployed in Hungary and Poland more than 5,500 follow-up interviews were conducted in early 1997 by employees of local labor offices with persons in self-employment participant and comparison group samples. Wide ranging differences were observed between the demographic composition of self-employment samples and the general population of unemployed. Program effects were therefore computed as net impact estimates controlling for systematic sample selection using observable characteristics including information on job search assistance from the employment service. While self-employment assistance yielded a favorable set of net impact estimates in both countries, there was …

The Market Failure Approach To Regional Economic Development Policy, Timothy Bartik

Timothy J. Bartik

No abstract provided.