Abstract
The employment issue is one of the most important areas for economic research and policy. Political ambitions are determined by the employment rate, because of the link between employment and tax revenues. The problem of unemployment and non-employment is associated with negative effects for society. Behrenz and Delander (1998) analysed the economic effects of unemployment and labour market programmes in Sweden for the year 1995, when open unemployment plus labour market programmes amounted to 11 per cent of the labour force. The authors estimated the fiscal costs for the public sector, as well as the real resource costs (opportunity costs associated with, for example the potential loss in production output) for society as a whole, and the economic costs for the unemployed. According to their study, the sum of these effects might amount to SEK 165 billion (around 10 per cent of GDP in 1995).
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Jonasson, E., Pettersson, L. (2004). Employment and Non-employment: A Study of the Swedish Labour Market. In: Södersten, B. (eds) Globalization and the Welfare State. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230524422_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230524422_9
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