IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eej/eeconj/v31y2005i4p507-536.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Computerization and Rising Unemployment Duration

Author

Listed:
  • Edward N. Wolff

    (New York University)

Abstract

With a given unemployment rate, duration of joblessness can vary substantially. The unemployment rate will be the same if four million workers are unemployed for three months on average, as when one million workers loose their jobs for a full year. Yet the consequences for the mental state of the people without jobs, for their behavior, and for the functioning of society are probably far more severe when the average period between jobs is much longer. The authors turn next to their main empirical study, the multivariate regression analysis, to sort out the effects of technological, institutional, and demographic variables on changes in unemployment duration. The analysis is based on aggregate time-series data for the US, covering the period from 1948 to 1997. The duration of unemployment has risen rather dramatically over the last half century. The percentage of unemployed workers out of work 15 or more weeks more than doubled over the same period, while the percentage of the unemployed out of work 27 or more weeks tripled.

Suggested Citation

  • Edward N. Wolff, 2005. "Computerization and Rising Unemployment Duration," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 31(4), pages 507-536, Fall.
    • Handle: RePEc:eej:eeconj:v:31:y:2005:i:4:p:507-536
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://web.holycross.edu/RePEc/eej/Archive/Volume31/V31N4P507_536.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bresnahan, Timothy F. & Trajtenberg, M., 1995. "General purpose technologies 'Engines of growth'?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 83-108, January.
    2. Meyer, Bruce D, 1990. "Unemployment Insurance and Unemployment Spells," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 58(4), pages 757-782, July.
    3. Layard, R. & Nickell, S., 1991. "Unemployment in the OECD Countries," Economics Series Working Papers 99130, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    4. Devine, Theresa J. & Kiefer, Nicolas M., 1991. "Empirical Labor Economics: The Search Approach," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195059366.
    5. Edward N. Wolff, 1995. "Technology and the Demand for Skills," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_153, Levy Economics Institute.
    6. Kiefer, Nicholas M, 1988. "Economic Duration Data and Hazard Functions," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 26(2), pages 646-679, June.
    7. Daniel Aaronson & Kenneth Housinger, 1999. "The impact of technology on displacement and reemployment," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 23(Q II), pages 14-30.
    8. Feldstein, Martin & Poterba, James, 1984. "Unemployment insurance and reservation wages," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1-2), pages 141-167.
    9. Helpman, Elhanan & Trajtenberg, Manuel, 1994. "A Time to Sow and a Time to Reap: Growth Based on General Purpose Technologies," CEPR Discussion Papers 1080, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. David, Paul A., 1989. "COMPUTER AND DYNAMO: The Modern Productivity Paradox in a Not-Too Distant Mirror," Economic Research Papers 268373, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    11. Jacob Mincer & Stephan Danninger, 2000. "Technology, Unemployment, and Inflation," NBER Working Papers 7817, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Ehrenberg, Ronald G & Oaxaca, Ronald L, 1976. "Unemployment Insurance, Duration of Unemployment, and Subsequent Wage Gain," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(5), pages 754-766, December.
    13. Doeringer, Peter B., 1992. "Turbulence in the American Workplace," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195064612.
    14. David H. Autor & Frank Levy & Richard Murnane, 2000. "Upstairs, Downstairs: Computer-Skill Complementarity and Computer-Labor Substitution on Two Floors of a Large Bank," NBER Working Papers 7890, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Leora Friedberg, 2003. "The Impact of Technological Change on Older Workers: Evidence from Data on Computer Use," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 56(3), pages 511-529, April.
    16. Moffitt, Robert & Nicholson, Walter, 1982. "The Effect of Unemployment Insurance on Unemployment: The Case of Federal Supplemental Benefits," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 64(1), pages 1-11, February.
    17. Stephen T. Marston, 1975. "The Impact of Unemployment Insurance on Job Search," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 6(1), pages 13-60.
    18. Gary S. Becker, 1975. "Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special Reference to Education, Second Edition," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck75-1, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Race against the machine
      by Inaki Villanueva in Applied economist on 2015-09-05 17:38:00

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Peter R. Mueser & Marios Michaelides, 2010. "The Role of Industry and Occupation in U.S. Unemployment Differentials by Gender, Race and Ethnicity: Recent Trends," Working Papers 1010, Department of Economics, University of Missouri.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. George Neumann, 1996. "Search Models and Duration Data," Econometrics 9602008, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 07 Mar 1996.
    2. Tito Boeri & Jan van Ours, 2013. "The Economics of Imperfect Labor Markets: Second Edition," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10142.
    3. Milan Vodopivec, 2004. "Income Support for the Unemployed : Issues and Options," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 14922, December.
    4. Addison, John T. & Blackburn, McKinley L., 2000. "The effects of unemployment insurance on postunemployment earnings," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 21-53, January.
    5. Vijlbrief, J.A., 1990. "The effects of unemployment insurance on the labour market," Serie Research Memoranda 0031, VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Econometrics.
    6. Cockx, Bart & Van der Linden, Bruno & Karaa, Adel, 1998. "Active Labour Market Policies and Job Tenure," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 50(4), pages 685-708, October.
    7. Chantal Cases, 1994. "Durées de chômage et comportements d'offre de travail : une revue de la littérature," Économie et Prévision, Programme National Persée, vol. 113(2), pages 155-170.
    8. Ernest P. Goss & Joseph M. Phillips, 1997. "The Impact of Home Ownership on the Duration of Unemployment," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 27(1), pages 9-27, Summer.
    9. Harald Edquist & Magnus Henrekson, 2006. "Technological Breakthroughs and Productivity Growth," Research in Economic History, in: Research in Economic History, pages 1-53, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    10. Solomon W. Polachek & Jun (Jeff) Xiang, 2006. "The Effects of Incomplete Employee Wage Information: A Cross-Country Analysis," Research in Labor Economics, in: The Economics of Immigration and Social Diversity, pages 35-75, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    11. Brown, Alessio J.G. & Kohlbrecher, Britta & Merkl, Christian & Snower, Dennis J., 2021. "The effects of productivity and benefits on unemployment: Breaking the link," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 967-980.
    12. Robert Shimer & Iván Werning, 2007. "Reservation Wages and Unemployment Insurance," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 1145-1185.
    13. Raj Chetty & Amy Finkelstein, 2012. "Social Insurance: Connecting Theory to Data," NBER Working Papers 18433, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Konstantinos Tatsiramos, 2009. "Unemployment Insurance in Europe: Unemployment Duration and Subsequent Employment Stability," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 7(6), pages 1225-1260, December.
    15. Hunt, Jennifer, 1995. "The Effect of Unemployment Compensation on Unemployment Duration in Germany," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(1), pages 88-120, January.
    16. Krueger, Alan B. & Meyer, Bruce D., 2002. "Labor supply effects of social insurance," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 33, pages 2327-2392, Elsevier.
    17. Kupets, Olga, 2006. "Determinants of unemployment duration in Ukraine," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 228-247, June.
    18. Dragana Djurdjevic, 2005. "Unemployment and Under-Employment: The Case of Switzerland," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 141(I), pages 23-70, March.
    19. Jovanovic, Boyan & Rousseau, Peter L., 2005. "General Purpose Technologies," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 18, pages 1181-1224, Elsevier.
    20. Fernando Coloma, 1996. "Seguro de Desempleo: Teoría, Evidencia y una Propuesta," Latin American Journal of Economics-formerly Cuadernos de Economía, Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 33(99), pages 295-320.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eej:eeconj:v:31:y:2005:i:4:p:507-536. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Victor Matheson, College of the Holy Cross (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eeaa1ea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.