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Revisiting Okun’s Relationship

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Dixon

    (Department of Economics, The University of Melbourne)

  • G. C. Lim

    (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne)

  • Jan C. van Ours

    (Department of Economics and CentER, Tilburg University; Department of Economics, The University of Melbourne; Centre for Economic Policy Research; CESifo; and Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA))

Abstract

Our paper revisits Okun’s relationship between observed unemployment rates and output gaps. We include in the relationship the effect of labour market institutions as well as age and gender effects. Our empirical analysis is based on 20 OECD countries over the period 1985–2013. We find that the share of temporary workers (which includes a high and rising share of young workers) played a crucial role in explaining changes in the Okun coefficient (the impact of the output gap on the unemployment rate) over time. The Okun coefficient is not only different for young, prime-age and older workers, it decreases with age. From a policy perspective, it follows that an increase in economic growth will not only have the desired outcome of reducing the overall unemployment rate, it will also have the distributional effect of lowering youth unemployment.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Dixon & G. C. Lim & Jan C. van Ours, 2016. "Revisiting Okun’s Relationship," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2016n14, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    • Handle: RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2016n14
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    2. de Mendonça, Helder Ferreira & de Oliveira, Diego S.P., 2019. "Firms' confidence and Okun's law in OECD countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 98-107.
    3. Benos, Nikos & Stavrakoudis, Athanassios, 2022. "Okun's law: Copula-based evidence from G7 countries," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 478-491.
    4. Andrew Evans, 2018. "Okun coefficients and participation coefficients by age and gender," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-22, December.
    5. Pham, Binh Thai & Sala, Hector, 2019. "Government Deficit Shocks and Okun's Coefficient Volatility: New Insights on the Austerity versus Growth Debate," IZA Discussion Papers 12492, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Nauro F. Campos & Corrado Macchiarelli & Fotios Mitropoulos, 2024. "Okun in the Euro: New Evidence from Structural Okun Law’s Estimates for the Euro Area, 1979-2019," CESifo Working Paper Series 11314, CESifo.
    7. Jan Russnak & Georg Stadtmann & Lilli Zimmermann, 2023. "Does Okun's law suffer from COVID-19?Evidence from Europe and the US," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 12(2), pages 165-171.
    8. Erić Ognjen & Popović Goran & Bjelić Jelena, 2020. "Analysis of Okun’s Regularity: The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina," Economics, Sciendo, vol. 8(2), pages 139-147, December.
    9. Ali Palali & Jan C. Ours, 2017. "Workplace Accidents and Workplace Safety: On Under-reporting and Temporary Jobs," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 31(1), pages 1-14, March.
    10. Celia Melguizo, 2017. "An analysis of Okun’s law for the Spanish provinces," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 37(1), pages 59-90, February.
    11. Aguiar-Conraria, Luís & Martins, Manuel M.F. & Soares, Maria Joana, 2020. "Okun’s Law across time and frequencies," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    12. Russnak, Jan & Stadtmann, Georg & Zimmermann, Lilli, 2023. "Does Okun's law suffer from COVID-19? Evidence from Europe and the US - A research note," Discussion Papers 428, European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Department of Business Administration and Economics.
    13. G. C. Lim & Robert Dixon & Jan C. Ours, 2021. "Beyond Okun’s law: output growth and labor market flows," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 1387-1409, March.
    14. Elhorst, J. Paul & Emili, Silvia, 2022. "A spatial econometric multivariate model of Okun's law," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    15. Bod’a, Martin & Považanová, Mariana, 2021. "Output-unemployment asymmetry in Okun coefficients for OECD countries," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 307-323.
    16. Mindaugas Butkus & Kristina Matuzeviciute & Dovile Rupliene & Janina Seputiene, 2020. "Does Unemployment Responsiveness to Output Change Depend on Age, Gender, Education, and the Phase of the Business Cycle?," Economies, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-29, November.
    17. Mindaugas Butkus & Janina Seputiene, 2019. "The Output Gap and Youth Unemployment: An Analysis Based on Okun’s Law," Economies, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-17, November.
    18. Chenini Moussa & Ayad Hicham & Attouchi Manel & Dahmani Mohamed Driouche, 2023. "Testing the Validity of Okun’s Law in Algeria: Is there a difference between Maki’s Cointegration and Quantile’s Regression Results?," Folia Oeconomica Stetinensia, Sciendo, vol. 23(1), pages 42-63, June.
    19. Camacho, Máximo & Pacce, Matias & Ulloa, Camilo, 2018. "Regional Business Cycle Phases in Spain/Ciclos económicos regionales en España," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 36, pages 857-896, Septiembr.
    20. Stungwa, Sanele & Tozamile, Siphuxolo, 2021. "Testing Okun’s law in South Africa," MPRA Paper 110936, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Thomas Obst, 2022. "Dynamic version of Okun’s law in the EU15 countries—The role of delays in the unemployment‐output nexus," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 69(2), pages 225-241, May.
    22. Ousama Ben-Salha & Zouhair Mrabet, 2019. "Is Economic Growth Really Jobless? Empirical Evidence from North Africa," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 61(4), pages 598-624, December.
    23. Grant, Angelia L., 2018. "The Great Recession and Okun's law," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 291-300.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Okun’s law; unemployment; equilibrium unemployment rates;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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