Unemployment and Nonemployment: Heterogeneities in Labor Market States

• Autores: Stephen Jones, W. Craig Riddell
• Localización: The Review of economics and statistics, ISSN 0034-6535, Vol. 88, Nº 2, 2006, págs. 314-323
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1162/rest.88.2.314
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• Resumen

  • The determination of how to distinguish between unemployment and nonparticipation is important and controversial. The conventional approach employs a priori reasoning together with self-reported current behavior. This paper employs an evidence-based classification of labor force status using information about the consequences of the behavior of the nonemployed. We find that marginal attachment-defined as desiring work, although not searching-is a distinct labor market state, lying between those who do not desire work and the unemployed. Furthermore, important heterogeneities exist within these nonemployment states. Two subsets of nonparticipants-both engaged in waiting-display behavior similar to the unemployed.