Labor markets in Western countries are becoming more and more flexible, thereby meeting the needs of employers. Yet the new flexibility also offers opportunities to workers, while at the same time bears the risk of long-term exclusion. This paper deals with unequal chances on the contemporary...

The system of unemployment benefits and subsistence benefits in Slovakia has potentially large disincentive effects with respect to the outflow from unemployment to a job. Especially low educated unemployed and unemployed with young children are often faced with replacement ratios which are...

Youth unemployment is an issue of primary concern in Western European countries. In this paper we analyze dynamics in unemployment for youths, adults (prime-aged individuals), and elderly. We use quarterly French unemployment data, stratified by gender, age group, and duration, over the period...

In the Netherlands, students who want to become a medical specialist have to enrol in a training program which is in limited supply. During the search for a position as trainee (or "junior medical specialist"), they may accept a temporary job as a medical assistant. We use a micro data set to...

This discussion paper has resulted in chapter 2 in: 'Losing Work, Moving On: International Perspectives On Worker Displacement', Peter J. Kuhn, Ed., 2002, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, Kalamazoo, MI, ISBN 0-88099-234-4.

In the past decades several features of U.S. unemployment dynamics have been investigated empirically. The original focus of research was on the duration of unemployment. In later studies the cyclicality of incidence and duration, compositional effects and duration dependence of the exit rate...

In the Netherlands, the average exit rate out of welfare is dramatically low. Most welfare recipients have to comply with guidelines on job search effort that are imposed by the welfare agency. If they do not, then a sanction in the form of a temporary benefit reduction can be imposed. This...

This paper analyzes the determinants of lay-offs, job-to-job movements and total separations with a unique data set that combines information on individual firms and their workers. We are in particular interested in whether the lay-off policy of firms can explain the relatively high level of...

According to basic models of sequential private value auctions of identical objects, consecutive prices are on average constant or rising. In empirical studies, prices are often found to decline. Several explanations have been put forward for this declining price anomaly. In this paper we...