Endogenous Separations in a Matching Model

The paper develops a model in which employment is an enduring rent-sharing relationship. In each period rents are subject to a transient disturbance, and the parties weigh the future stream of benefits against current dis-benefits. The analysis suggests a strong correlation between real interest rates and aggregate unemployment because high real interest rates makes the employment relationship more fragile. This correlation is demonstrated for a number of time series of aggregate national data.