Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Links between labor supply and unemployment: theory and empirics

  • OriginalPaper
  • Published:
Journal of Population Economics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A flow model of labor market participation is used to describe how various exogenous variations jointly affect unemployment and participation and provides short-run identification restrictions of a structural VAR. In some countries, fast rising female participation may have had a moderate short- and medium-run impact on unemployment rates. A variance decomposition exercise indicates that, in Continental Europe, participation is driven in the short run by unemployment shocks, whereas in the USA, it is driven by participation shocks (demography, immigration). Unemployment in Europe is driven by participation shocks, whereas in the USA, it is driven by unemployment shocks.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Acemoglu D (1999) Changes in unemployment and wage inequality: an alternative theory and some evidence. Am Econ Rev 89(5):1259–1278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Algan Y, Cahuc P (2004) Job Protection: The Macho Hypothesis IZA DP 1192

  • Auer P, Cazes S (2000) Stable or unstable jobs: untangling and interpreting the evidence in Industrialized Countries ILO discussion paper

  • Berger MC (1983) Changes in labor force composition and male earnings: a production approach. J Hum Resour 18(2):177–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanchard OJ, Perotti R (2002) An empirical characterization of the dynamic effects of changes in government spending and taxes on output. Q J Econ 117(4):1329–1368

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanchard OJ, Quah D (1989) The dynamic effects of aggregate demand and supply disturbances. Am Econ Rev 79(4):655–673

    Google Scholar 

  • Blanchard OJ, Wolfers J (2000) The role of shocks and institutions in the rise of european unemployment: the aggregate evidence. Econ J 110: C1–C33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boeri T, Garibaldi P (2002) Shadow Activity and Unemployment in a Depressed Labor Market CEPR DP 3433

  • Boeri T, Garibaldi P (2005) Shadow Sorting NBER Macroeconomic Annual–ISOM Conference

  • Cahuc P, Marque F, Wasmer E (2004) Intrafirm wage bargaining in matching models: macroeconomic implications and resolution methods with multiple labor inputs CEPR DP 4605

  • Cole HL, Rogerson R (1999) Can the Mortensen–Pissarides matching model match the business-cycle facts? Int Econ Rev 40(4): 933–959

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flinn CJ, Heckman, JJ (1983) Are unemployment and out of the labor force behaviorally distinct labor force states? J Labor Econ 1(1):28–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galí J (1999) Technology, employment and the business cycle: do technology shocks explain aggregate fluctuations? Am Econ Rev 89(1):249–271

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garibaldi P, Wasmer E (2005) Labor market flows and equilibrium search unemployment. J Eur Econ Assoc 3(4):851–882

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garibaldi P, Wasmer E (2003) Equilibrium search unemployment, endogenous participation and labour market flows. CEPR DP 3986

  • Genre V, Gomez-Salavador R, Lamo A (2003) European women: why do(n’t) they work? paper presented at the ECB–CEPR labor workshop, June

  • Grant JH, Hamermesh DS (1982) Labor market competition among youths white women and others. Rev Econ Stat 63(3):354–360

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamermesh DS (1986) The demand for labor in the long run. In: Ashenfelter O, Layard R (eds) Handbook of labor economics, vol I. Elsevier

  • Hamermesh DS, Grant J (1979) Econometric studies of labor–labor substitution and their implications for policy. J Hum Resour 14(4):518–542

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jaumotte F (2003) Female labour force participation: past trends and main determinants in OECD countries ECO/WKP(2003)30, OCDE

  • Jones SRG, Ridell WC (1999) The measurement of unemployment: an empirical approach. Econometrica 67(1):147–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Juhn C, Kim D II (1999) The effects of rising female labor supply on male wages. J Labor Econ 17(1):23–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mortensen DT, Pissarides CA (1994) Job creation and job destruction in the theory of unemployment. Rev Econ Stud 64:397–415

    Google Scholar 

  • Nickell S, Nunziata L, Ochel W (2005) Unemployment in the OECD since the 1960s. What do we know? Econ J 115(500):1–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nunziata L (2003) Labour market institutions and the cyclical dynamics of employment. Labour Econ 10(1):31–53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pissarides CA, Garibaldi P, Olivetti C, Petrongolo B, Wasmer E (2005) Women in the labor force: how well is Europe doing?. In: Boeri T, del Boca D, Pissarides C (eds) Women at work. An economic perspective. Oxford University Press, pp 7–95

  • Phillips PC (1998) Impulse response and forecast error variance asymptotics in nonstationary VAR’s. J Econometrics 83(2):21–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sims, CA, Stock JH, Watson M (1990) Inference in linear time series models with some unit roots. Econometrica 58(1):113–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stole LA, Zwiebel J (1996) Organizational design and technology choice under intrafirm bargaining. Am Econ Rev 86(1):195–222

    Google Scholar 

  • Topel RH (1994a) Wage inequality and regional labour market performance in the US. In: Tachibanaki T (ed) Savings and bequests. Ann Arbors University Michigan Press

  • Topel RH (1994b) Regional labor markets and the determinants of wage inequality. Am Econ Rev Pap Proc 84(2):17–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Topel RH (1997) Factors proportions and relative wages: the supply-side determinants of wage inequality. J Econ Perpsect 11:55–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Wasmer E (1997) Changes in the composition of labour supply. Implications for wages and unemployment Phd dissertation. Departement of Economics, London School of Economics

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Etienne Wasmer.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Deborah Cobb-Clark

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wasmer, E. Links between labor supply and unemployment: theory and empirics. J Popul Econ 22, 773–802 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-007-0161-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-007-0161-8

Keywords

JEL Classification

Navigation