Twin peaks in regional unemployment and returns to scale in job-matching in the Czech Republic

The regional distribution of unemployment rates in the Czech Republic over the transition period is shown to be characterized by twin peaks, e.g. a high and a low unemployment equilibrium. The emer-gence of strong regional disparities at the beginning of the 1990s can, at least partially, be explained by regionally different degrees of competition between the emerging private sector and state-owned enterprises for skilled labor and the role of on-the-job transitions on the parameters of the matching function. This study presents a formalization of these effects and estimates empirical matching func-tions for a panel of labor market districts of the Czech Republic between January 1992 and July 1994. When time-series properties of unemployment to job exits are taken into account and dynamic panel estimators are applied, the Czech matching function is shown to exhibit increasing returns to scale, being consistent with multiple unemployment equilibria. Considering variables, which approximate the degree of job competition of employed workers in the search process, reveals strong heterogeneity of matching parameters with respect to the relative position of districts in the regional distribution of unemployment and vacancy rates, and the share of district employment in the private sector.

Externalities in the Matching of Workers and Firms in Britain

We provide empirical evidence on the nature of spatial externalities in a matching model for the UK. We use a monthly panel of outflows, unemployment and vacancy stocks data from the registers at Jobcentres in the UK; these are mapped on to travel-to-work areas. We find evidence of significant spill-over effects that are generally in line with the predictions of theory. For example, we find that conditional on local labour market conditions, high unemployment levels in neighbouring areas raise the number of local filled vacancies but lower the local outflow from unemployment.matching model, externalities, spatial dependence, unemployment outflows

Non-uniformity of job-matching in a transition economy- a nonparametric analysis for the czech republic

In this study, we explore the properties and development of the matching technology in the Czech Republic during the transition to a market economy. Nonparametric additive modelling allows us assess flexible functional forms, which comprise for instance CES and translog specifications. This enable us to evaluate the matching process locally for each combination of unemployment vacancies rather than being restricted to global coefficients. Special interest is devoted to analysis and economic determinants of regional variation in the returns to scale of the marching function. We find non-linearities in the partial adjustment process of unemployment outflows, and a negative coefficient on vacancies in some years. Moreover, we find locally increasing returns to scale in job-marching. Returns to scale are found to be negatively correlated to the share in employment in services and to outmigration, positively correlated to the employment share in industry, the unemployment rate and various measures of active labor market policies

Externalities in the matching of workers and firms in Britain

We provide empirical evidence on the nature of spatial externalities in a matching model for the UK. We use a monthly panel of outflows, unemployment and vacancy stocks data from the registers at Jobcentres in the UK; these are mapped on to travel-to-work areas. We find evidence of significant spill-over effects that are generally in line with the predictions of theory. For example, we find that conditional on local labour market conditions, high unemployment levels in neighbouring areas raise the number of local filled vacancies but lower the local outflow from unemployment

Externalities in the matching of workers and firms in Britain

We provide empirical evidence on the nature of spatial externalities in a matching model for the UK. We use a monthly panel of outflows, unemployment and vacancy stocks data from the registers at Jobcentres in the UK; these are mapped on to travel-to-work areas. We find evidence of significant spill-over effects that are generally in line with the predictions of theory. For example, we find that conditional on local labour market conditions, high unemployment levels in neighbouring areas raise the number of local filled vacancies but lower the local outflow from unemployment

Non-Uniformity of Job-Matching in a Transition Economy

We consider problems in modelling job-matching in the Czech Republic during the transition to a market economy. Special interest is devoted to functional form considerations and the analysis of returns to scale of the matching function. This explorative study aims to shed some light into the black-box of the matching technology by applying nonparametric estimation techniques which relax distributional assumptions. Nonparametric additive modelling enables us to evaluate the matching process locally for each combination of the underlying matching factors, rather than being restricted to global parameters. We apply these techniques to a rich panel of monthly observations of unemployment vacancies and unemployment-to-job exits in all 76 labor market districts in the Czech Republic between January 1992 and September 1996, and find non-linearities in the partial adjustment process as well as a partially negative coefficient of unemployment outows with respect to vacancies in some years. Moreover, we find locally increasing returns to scale in job-matching, which may be responsible for multiple equilibrium unemployment rates in the Czech Republic during the transformation process

Germany’s Labor Market Problems

In this study we collect information on what economists would suggest for reducing German unemployment. This was done by conducting a detailed survey containing 35 measures at two conferences of different kind. One conference was a small conference at the Humboldt-University in Berlin attended by leading researchers on the German labor market, the other the 1998 Meeting of the European Economic Association. We statistically identify a set of measures that is viewed superior to the remaining ones independently of the survey chosen. In a similar way, the responses allow to identify a set of measures that should be avoided. These lists were obtained by recursively applying the Friedman test which is based on individual rankings of survey participants. While the former set of measures contains a selective group of institutional reforms and supply-side policies, the latter is dominated by demand-management policies

Twin Peaks in Regional Unemployment and Returns to Scale in Job-Matching in the Czech Republic

The regional distribution of unemployment rates in the Czech Republic over the transition period is shown to be characterized by twin peaks, e.g. a high and a low unemployment equilibrium. The emergence of strong regional disparities at the beginning of the 1990s can, at least partially, be explained by regionally different degrees of competition between the emerging private sector and state-owned enterprises for skilled labor and the role of on-the-job transitions on the parameters of the matching function. This study presents a formalization of these effects and estimates empirical matching functions for a panel of labor market districts of the Czech Republic between January 1992 and July 1994. When time-series properties of unemployment to job exits are taken into account and dynamic panel estimators are applied, the Czech matching function is shown to exhibit increasing returns to scale, being consistent with multiple unemployment equilibria. Considering variables, which approximate the degree of job competition of employed workers in the search process, reveals strong heterogeneity of matching parameters with respect to the relative position of districts in the regional distribution of unemployment and vacancy rates, and the share of district employment in the private sector