Job Market Monitor
Labour Economics
Italy / Hiring in recession
Bioplastics group Mossi & Ghisolfi has hired 50 people a year for the last five years – not bad when Italy’s unemployment has risen steadily to a 13-year high above 11 percent. Now a world leader in its field, the Piedmont-based firm is so specialized that, to meet booming demand, it is even wooing home … Continue reading
EU / Youth Unemployment / A ‘lost generation’ fund
European Union leaders are expected to set aside more than 5 billion euros from the EU budget to tackle the bloc’s soaring and costly youth unemployment when they meet for a summit in Brussels on Thursday. The aim is to get to grips with the debilitating unemployment caused by the region’s debt and economic crisis. … Continue reading
Flexiblility / Anxious workers and declining living standards
As the Bank of England’s chief economist Spencer Dale put it in a speech on Wednesday, shortly after the jobs figures were published, “the harsh but inescapable reality,” is that, “households and families in our economy are worse off. Much worse off.” He highlights the “extraordinary flexibility” of wages. Once adjusted for inflation, pay is … Continue reading
US / Labor Economics / Is the the Beveridge curve shifthing ?
When trying to determine if high unemployment is being caused by weak demand or by a mismatch between jobs and the skills of job seekers, economists look at the Beveridge Curve. It represents the relationship between the unemployment rate and the job vacancy rate. On a simple chart, vacancies are on the vertical axis and unemployment … Continue reading
Germany / New evidence on start-up subsidies and programs for unemployed youth – they work
‘In industrialized economies such as the European countries unemployment rates are very responsive to the business cycle and significant shares stay unemployed for more than one year.” writes Künn, Steffen in Unemployment and active labor market policy : new evidence on start-up subsidies, marginal employment and programs for youth unemployed. (Adapted choosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor … Continue reading
Learning from Sweden’s return to full employment in the late 1990s
In the mid to late 1990s, Sweden’s economy staged a remarkable resurgence from a three-year-long recession which had left it with the largest government budget deficit in the OECD. In this essay for IPPR, former Swedish finance minister Par Nuder reflects on the policies and politics that enabled his country’s recovery. In the early 1990s, … Continue reading
College – Earnings – US: What different college degrees make?
“Part of the reason people go to college is to get better jobs. It’s by no means the only reason, of course; a liberal arts education can enrich a person’s life in ways besides better employment. But better employment is surely one of the crucial goals, and jobs that require college degrees generally pay better … Continue reading
Labor Market Institutions – High unemployment rates have weakened the prime facie case for deregulation and less intervention
Labor Market Institutions: A Review of the Literature by Gordon Betcherman on worldbank.org looks at the findings of over 150 studies on the impacts of four types of labor market institutions: minimum wages, employment protection regulation, unions and collective bargaining, and mandated benefits. The review places particular emphasis on results from developing countries. Impacts studied are … Continue reading
Unemployment Insurance Claims – 361,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week
Two weeks ago, claim were down to 353,000, at bottom-near since April 2008 and we have asked ‘But is it only volatility’ ? The answer might well be yes. UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA In the week ending August 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 361,000, a decrease … Continue reading
Labor-market failures will not be demand-side but structural, not amenable to any straightforward and easily implemented cure
J. Bradford DeLong At first, the long-term unemployed in the Great Depression searched eagerly and diligently for alternative sources of work. But, after six months or so passed without successful reemployment, they tended to become discouraged and distraught. After 12 months of continuous unemployment, the typical unemployed worker still searched for a job, but in … Continue reading
Unemployment and Older Workers Drive Competition in Labor Market
About 74 percent of Americans say they plan to work past age 65, according to a May study by economists Jay Bryson and Sarah Watt of Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina. Thirty-nine percent said they need to earn to make ends meet or maintain their lifestyle, and 35 percent wanted to stay … Continue reading
France – Lessons on Youth Unemployment and Youth Employment Policy
The last crisis has merely amplified what is an increasingly problematic structural issue in France: Youth unemployment. In the last 30 years, the youth unemployment rate has never dropped below 15% and has regularly exceeded 20%. Yet, integrating young people into the labour market has been an ongoing public policy objective since the end of … Continue reading
Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report : No News, Bad News
After an increase, an insignificant drop, now unchanged. This is not an indication of a dynamic job market. SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA In the week ending May 12, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 370,000, unchanged from the previous week’s revised figure of 370,000. The 4-week moving average was 375,000, a decrease of … Continue reading
Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report : An insignificant drop but might indicate a return to a declining trend
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA In the week ending May 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 367,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 368,000. The 4-week moving average was 379,000, a decrease of 5,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 384,250. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment … Continue reading
Declining Participation Rate | Any bounceback in the participation rate will be fairly small
The Chart Below from Calculated Risk shows the actual annual participation rate and two forecasts based on changes in demographics. Now that the leading edge of the baby boom generation is starting to retire, the participation rate is declining and will probably continue to decline for the next 20 years. Note: the yellow line is … Continue reading
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