Young People and the Great Recession

This article reviews the effects of the Great Recession on youth labour markets. We argue that young people aged 16-24 have suffered disproportionately during the recession. Using the USA and UK as case studies, we analyse youth unemployment using microdata. We argue that there is convincing evidence that the effects of unemployment when young impose costs on individuals and society well into the future. Though the effects of current policies on youth unemployment are uncertain, there is still a strong case for policy intervention to address the difficulties that the young are having in accessing employment.youth unemployment

Retire Later or Work Harder?

We compare two policies of increasing British state pension provision: (a) increase the pensionable age of men and women, (b) maintain the existing retirement age but require older workers to work longer per-period hours. There are reasons for policy makers to give serious consideration to the under-researched alternative (b). First, from wage - hours contract theory we know that there are potential gains to both workers and firms of allowing hours to rise in work experience. Second, there is strong evidence that job satisfaction rises in age. Third, there has in any case been a significant overall increase in the hours supplied by older workers in the last two decades. We review the relevant theory, model the trade-off between later retirement versus increased work intensity, produce relevant background facts, and provide estimates of the policy trade-offs.older workers, statutory retirement age, hours of work

Youth Unemployment in Europe and the United States

This paper focuses particularly on youth unemployment, why we should be concerned about it, why it is increasing again, how the present difficulties of young people entering the labour market differ from those of the past and what useful lessons have been learned that may guide future policy. We focus on Europe and USA, but introduce evidence from other countries where appropriate. Our analysis of the UK NCDS birth cohort data provides evidence supporting the notion that early adulthood unemployment creates long lasting scars which affect labour market outcomes much later in life. Our chosen variables are weekly wages and happiness. Our results show significant effects at age 50 from early adulthood unemployment. These affects are stronger than more recent unemployment experiences.scarring effects, youth unemployment, happiness

The Crisis, Policy Reactions and Attitudes to Globalization and Jobs

We consider the effects of the financial crisis and subsequent recession on world labour markets. It begins by cataloguing the adverse effects on output of the sudden collapse in demand brought about by the financial crisis in what has come to be called the Great Recession. Next we look at the labour market and how employment and unemployment have been impacted and document the very different responses by country. We then move on to look at attitudinal indicators of the impact of the rising levels of joblessness we observe across most OECD countries. We examine data on well-being and on attitudes to employment. We also examine a number of questions about the impact of globalization that respondents across many European countries were asked in the Spring of 2010. Finally, we examine the policy responses of governments, and consider what lessons might be learned from the marked differences in labour market outcomes following the recession.globalization, jobs

How Important Is Guaranteed or Institutionalised Overtime?

Basing our empirical work on the British New Earnings Survey Panel Data between 1990 and 1996, we show that overtime hours of male workers contain significant individual effects. We also show that using suitable techniques to deal with the lagged overtime variable serves to alter radically the estimated speed of adjustment of overtime to its desired level. Our results are consistent with firms either guaranteeing the length of weekly overtime or following institutionalised custom and practice in their overtime arrangements. They are far less supportive of traditional demand-side analyses of overtime working

What Should Be Done About Rising Unemployment in the OECD?

There is a growing belief that the recession has run its course and that the goods market has started a period of slow, but sustainable, recovery. Improvement in the labor market may take some time, but many believe that unemployment will return to its 2007 level in the medium term. In this paper, we argue that recovery is by no means guaranteed and that the consequences for unemployment may be worse than anticipated.unemployment, youth

Free personal care for older people : a wider perspective on its costs

The paper comments on the so-called "Free Personal Care (FPC)" policy established in Scotland in 2002. FPC is the legal entitlement of people aged 65 and older, who have been assessed by the council as having personal care needs, to receive services that will assist them in their day-to-day activities. One view is that FPC may not be affordable in its current form because population ageing will increase dramatically the numbers eligible for assistance in the future. This paper discusses ways in which FPC may actually lower the total per-person cost of accommodating Scotland's ageing population

What Should Be Done about Rising Unemployment in the UK?

This paper considers the issue of unemployment one of the most pressing issues facing the UK and other governments, as the current recessions deepens. It begins by trying to accurately date the beginning of the current downturn in the British economy, arguing that it is clear that the recession commenced in the 2nd quarter of 2008. It then examines whether this recession is substantively different from past downturns in the UK and argues that, although the extreme rationing up of credit marks the current recession as different, some of the labour market consequences, such as the concentration of unemployment among the young and other disadvantaged groups, is typical of past experience. The paper reviews past literature on the causes of unemployment, arguing that the origin of the present difficulties lies with a collapse in demand rather than with frictions in the labour market caused by institutional inflexibilities. There is a large literature on the negative impact of unemployment both on society and on individuals. The adverse societal consequences are reviewed in the next section, while we discuss some of our own research on the adverse consequences on the individual in Section 6. Just as in previous recessions, it is becoming clear that some groups will suffer a much higher incidence of unemployment during this downturn and therefore suffer to a greater than average extent the adverse individual effects that we discussed in Section 6. The evidence on the composition of these groups is reviewed and presented along with some of our own research on this issue in the following section. One of the key groups who are likely to be affected by the recession is the young. In Section 8, we review the particular difficulties faced by them in trying to secure a footing in the labour market. In the last two decades many governments have introduced policies (collectively described as Active Labour Market Policies or ALMPs) for direct intervention in the labour market to improve outcomes for particular groups and for the young in particular. The next section reviews the evidence on the success of these policies. The final section discusses some policy proposals which we offer to alleviate what we believe will be the very serious adverse consequences of the likely increase in unemployment in the UK over the short to medium term.unemployment, youth unemployment

The Scots may be brave but they are neither healthy nor happy

On almost all measures of physical health, Scots fare worse than residents of any other region of the UK and often worse than the rest of Europe. Deaths from chronic liver disease and lung cancer are particularly prevalent in Scotland. The self-assessed wellbeing of Scots is lower than that of the English or Welsh, even after taking into account any differences in characteristics. Scots also suffer from higher levels of self-assessed depression or phobia, accidental death and suicide than those in other parts of Great Britain. This result is particularly driven by outcomes in Strathclyde and is consistent with the high scores for other measures of social deprivation in this area. On average, indicators of social capital in Scotland are no worse than in England or Wales. Detailed analysis within Scotland, however, shows that social capital indicators for the Strathclyde area are relatively low. We argue that these problems need to be directly targeted as they seem unlikely to be fixed by more indirect policies aimed at raising economic growth

What should be done about rising unemployment in the OECD?

There is a growing belief that the recession has run its course and that the goods market has started a period of slow, but sustainable, recovery. Improvement in the labor market may take some time, but many believe that unemployment will return to its 2007 level in the medium term. In this paper, we argue that recovery is by no means guaranteed and that the consequences for unemployment may be worse than anticipated