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Natural and Cyclical Unemployment in Latvia: New Insights from the Beveridge Curve Model

Author

Listed:
  • Olegs Krasnopjorovs

    (Bank of Latvia)

Abstract

Whether current unemployment in Latvia is mostly structural or cyclical recently provoked an intense debate among policy makers and academic researchers. This paper follows the method proposed by Barlevy (2011) to estimate natural and cyclical components of unemployment from the Beveridge curve model. It finds that at the end of 2014 unemployment in Latvia was quite similar to its natural rate. Zero cyclical component of unemployment suggests that aggregate-demand-stimulating policies would not bring unemployment down without creating inflationary pressures and competitiveness loss and, therefore, are not a preferred option. Instead, raising matching efficiency between the unemployed and vacancies would decrease natural unemployment from its current high of about 11%. Moreover, it was found that the lowest matching efficiency between the unemployed and vacancies is present among workers (compared to managers and professionals) and typical for Latgale region. This might reflect significant structural problems rather than low business cycle synchronisation with the other occupational groups and regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Olegs Krasnopjorovs, 2015. "Natural and Cyclical Unemployment in Latvia: New Insights from the Beveridge Curve Model," Discussion Papers 2015/02, Latvijas Banka.
    • Handle: RePEc:ltv:dpaper:201502
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christopher A. Pissarides & Barbara Petrongolo, 2001. "Looking into the Black Box: A Survey of the Matching Function," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(2), pages 390-431, June.
    2. Mr. Christian H Ebeke & Greetje Everaert, 2014. "Unemployment and Structural Unemployment in the Baltics," IMF Working Papers 2014/153, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Camarero, Mariam & Carrion-i-Silvestre, Josep Lluis & Tamarit, Cecilio, 2005. "Unemployment dynamics and NAIRU estimates for accession countries: A univariate approach," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 584-603, September.
    4. Olivier Blanchard & Mark Griffiths & Bertrand Gruss, 2013. "Boom, Bust, Recovery Forensics of the Latvia Crisis," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 47(2 (Fall)), pages 325-388.
    5. Gadi Barlevy, 2011. "Evaluating the role of labor market mismatch in rising unemployment," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 35(Q III), pages 82-96.
    6. Aleksejs Meļihovs & Anna Zasova, 2009. "Assessment of the natural rate of unemployment and capacity utilisation in Latvia," Baltic Journal of Economics, Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies, vol. 9(2), pages 25-46, December.
    7. Vanags, Alf & Sonin, Konstantin & Anosova, Daria & Zasova, Anna, 2013. "Structural or Cyclical? Unemployment in Latvia Since the 2008-09 Financial Crisis," CEPR Discussion Papers 9525, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Olivier Blanchard & Mark Griffiths & Bertrand Gruss, 2013. "Boom, Bust, Recovery: Forensics of the Latvia Crisis," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 44(2 (Fall)), pages 325-388.
    9. Ieva Brauksa & Ludmila Fadejeva, 2013. "Internal Labour Market Mobility in 2005-2011: The Case of Latvia," Working Papers 2013/02, Latvijas Banka.
    10. Aleksejs Melihovs & Anna Zasova, 2007. "Estimation of the Phillips Curve for Latvia," Working Papers 2007/03, Latvijas Banka.
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    Cited by:

    1. Konstantins Benkovskis & Eduards Goluzins & Olegs Tkacevs, 2016. "CGE model with fiscal sector for Latvia," Working Papers 2016/01, Latvijas Banka.
    2. Olegs Krasnopjorovs, 2019. "Anatomy of labour reserves in the Baltic countries: a snapshot 15 years after the EU accession," Discussion Papers 2019/02, Latvijas Banka.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    unemployment; vacancies; Beveridge curve; cyclical unemployment; natural unemployment; structural unemployment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E60 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General

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