Youth Unemployment: Déjà Vu?

(2010) - David N.F. Bell, David G. Blanchflower

Journal: SSRN Electronic Journal
Link:: https://www.ssrn.com/abstract=1545132
DOI:: 10.2139/ssrn.1545132
Links::
Tags:: #paper #NCDS #Unemployment
Cite Key:: [@bellYouthUnemploymentDeja2010]

Abstract

Youth Unemployment: Déjà Vu? This paper reviews current issues in youth labour markets in developed countries. It argues that young people aged 16-25 have been particularly hard hit during the current recession. Using the USA and UK as cast studies, it analyses both causes and effects of youth unemployment using micro-data. It argues that there is convincing evidence that the young are particularly susceptible to the negative effects of spells of unemployment well after their initial experience of worklessness. Because the current youth cohort is relatively large, the longer-term outlook for youth unemployment is quite good, but there is a strong case for policy intervention now to address the difficulties that the current cohort is having in finding access to work.

Notes

“t argues that there is convincing evidence that the young are particularly susceptible to the negative effects of spells of unemployment well after their initial experience of worklessness.” (Bell and Blanchflower, 2010, p. 1)

“We have information available to us at age 23 in 1981 on 12537 respondents whether a) the respondent had ever been unemployed since the age of 16. Unemployment rates in the UK had risen from 5.4% in 1979 to 6.8% in 1980 and 9.6% in 1981, when the UK had moved into recession. Unemployment would eventually peak at 11.4% in the spring of 1984. In the sample, 44% reported that at some time in their working lives they had been unemployed.” (Bell and Blanchflower, 2010, p. 26)

“Workers were asked for their degree of satisfaction with their current job. Possible answers were “very dissatisfied; somewhat dissatisfied; neither; somewhat satisfied and very satisfied”. Column 3 reports the results of estimating an ordered logit. Youth unemployment lowered job satisfaction whereas middle-age unemployment did not.” (Bell and Blanchflower, 2010, p. 28)