 Why Did the Average Duration of Unemployment Become So Much Longer?Toshihiko Mukoyama and Aysegul Sahin No 4002, Working Papers from Concordia University, Department of Economics Abstract: This paper examines the causes of the observed increase in the average unemployment duration over the past thirty years. First we analyze if changes in the demographic com- position of the U.S. labor force can explain this increase. In particular, we examine how much of the observed change can be explained by the change in age and gender compo- sition. We then consider institutional changes, such as the change in the generosity and coverage of unemployment insurance. Changes in the composition of the labor force and institutional changes can only partially account for the observed increase in the duration of unemployment. We construct a job search model and calibrate it to the U.S. data. The results indicate that more than 70% of the increase in the duration of unemployment over the last thirty years can be explained by an increase in within-group wage inequality. Keywords: Unemployment Duration; Demographic Change; Within-Group Wage In-equality; Job Search Model (search for similar items in EconPapers) There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:crd:wpaper:04002 Access Statistics for this paper More papers in Working Papers from Concordia University, Department of Economics Contact information at EDIRC. |
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