Determinants of Lifetime Unemployment: A Micro Data Analysis with Censored Quantile Regressions

Achim Schmillen and Joachim Möller

No 4751, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: The empirical literature on unemployment almost exclusively focuses on the duration of distinct unemployment spells. In contrast, we use a large German administrative micro data set for the time span 1975-2004 to investigate individual lifetime unemployment (defined as the total length of all unemployment spells over a 25-year period). This new perspective enables us to answer questions regarding the long-term distribution and determinants of unemployment for West German birth cohorts 1950-1954. We find that lifetime unemployment is highly unevenly distributed and employ censored quantile regressions to show that, for men, pursuing a disadvantageous occupation early in the professional career leads to a significantly higher amount of lifetime unemployment.

Keywords: occupation-specific human capital; censored quantile regressions; lifetime unemployment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 J64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2010-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hrm and nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Published - published as "Distribution and determinants of lifetime unemployment" in: Labour Economics, 2012, 19 (1), 33-47

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Related works:
Working Paper: Determinants of Lifetime Unemployment. A Micro Data Analysis with Censored Quantile Regressions (2010)
Working Paper: Determinants of lifetime unemployment: a micro data analysis with censored quantile regressions (2010)
Working Paper: Determinants of Lifetime Unemployment - A Micro Data Analysis with Censored Quantile Regressions (2009)
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