Fewer in Number but Harder to Employ: Incidence and Duration of Unemployment in an Economic Upswing

Authors:

Hernæs, Erik

Year:

2001

Reference:

Vol 103, no 4

Summary

During the upswing in the Norwegian labour market in the early 1990s, inflow to unemployment fell by one fourth from October 1991 to October 1993. In contrast, the employment probabilities of the inflow rose much less for males and even fell for females. A duration analysis showed that the average 'employability' of the unemployment inflow declined due to lower previous income, a lower proportion with job experience, a higher proportion with previous uemployment experience, a higher proportion with immigrant background, and a lower proportion on recall. They were fewer in number, but harder to employ.

JEL:

E32, J64

Keywords:

Unemployment, ranking, sorting, cycles

Project:

Oppdragsgiver: AAD
Oppdragsgivers prosjektnr.:
Frisch prosjekt: 1312 - Unemployment transitions

Contact:

erik.hernas@frisch.uio.no

Financing:

Norwegian Ministry of Labour and Government Administration