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Unemployment duration and workers' wage aspirations in Spain

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  • Namkee Ahn
  • J. Ignacio García Pérez

Abstract

This paper examines unemployed workers' declared willingness to work for a wage lower than the one warranted by their qualification. We analyze which personal and economic characteristics determine this willingness and how it changes as unemployment spells lengthen. Moreover, we also study the influence of this willingness on unemployment duration. The main results are: (i) Young workers, those less educated and those living in regions with high unemployment show a more positive attitude towards accepting lower wages while married women with a working husband show more negative attitudes; (ii) The exhaustion of unemployment benefits has positive effects in the transition probability of the attitude from negative to positive; (iii) The effect of this attitude on the unemployment hazard rate is positive but only marginally significant which may be showing that this willingness is not only reflecting the worker's reservation wage but also some unobserved heterogeneity; (iv) The negative duration dependence of the unemployment hazard rate is substantially reduced when unobserved heterogeneity is controlled for.

Suggested Citation

  • Namkee Ahn & J. Ignacio García Pérez, 2000. "Unemployment duration and workers' wage aspirations in Spain," Economics Working Papers 426, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    • Handle: RePEc:upf:upfgen:426
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Heckman, James & Singer, Burton, 1984. "A Method for Minimizing the Impact of Distributional Assumptions in Econometric Models for Duration Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(2), pages 271-320, March.
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    10. Atkinson, Anthony B & Micklewright, John, 1991. "Unemployment Compensation and Labor Market Transitions: A Critical Review," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 29(4), pages 1679-1727, December.
    11. Elazar Berkovitch, 1990. "A Stigma Theory of Unemployment Duration," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Yoram Weiss & Gideon Fishelson (ed.), Advances in the Theory and Measurement of Unemployment, chapter 2, pages 20-56, Palgrave Macmillan.
    12. Elena G. F. Stancanelli, 1999. "Do the Rich Stay Unemployed Longer? An Empirical Study for the UK," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(3), pages 295-314, August.
    13. Olympia Bover & Manuel Arellano & Samuel Bentolila, 2002. "Unemployment Duration, Benefit Duration and the Business Cycle," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(479), pages 223-265, April.
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    15. Ahn, Namkee & Ugidos-Olazabal, Arantza, 1995. "Duration of Unemployment in Spain: Relative Effects of Unemployment Benefit and Family Characteristics," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 57(2), pages 249-264, May.
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. José Ignacio García Pérez & Yolanda Rebollo Sanz, 2005. "A Structural Estimation to Evaluate the Wage Penalty after Unemployment in Europe," Economic Working Papers at Centro de Estudios Andaluces E2005/15, Centro de Estudios Andaluces.
    2. García-Pérez, J. Ignacio, 2003. "The nineties in Spain: too much flexibility in the youth labour market?," DEE - Working Papers. Business Economics. WB wb030302, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía de la Empresa.
    3. Peter Fredriksson & Bertil Holmlund, 2006. "Improving Incentives in Unemployment Insurance: A Review of Recent Research," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 357-386, July.
    4. repec:pri:cepsud:158krueger is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Gema Álvarez Llorente & Mª Soledad Otero Giráldez & Alberto Rodríguez Casal & Jacobo de Uña Álvarez, 2004. "La duración del desempleo de la mujer casada en Galicia," Working Papers 0409, Universidade de Vigo, Departamento de Economía Aplicada.
    6. Anders Forslund & Alan Krueger, 2010. "Did Active Labor Market Policies Help Sweden Rebound from the Depression of the Early 1990s?," NBER Chapters, in: Reforming the Welfare State: Recovery and Beyond in Sweden, pages 159-187, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. José Ignacio García Pérez & Fernando Múñoz Bullón, 2001. "The Nineties in Spain: so much Flexibility in the Labor Market?," Economic Working Papers at Centro de Estudios Andaluces E2001/01, Centro de Estudios Andaluces.
    8. J. Ignacio García‐Pérez, 2006. "Job separation in a non‐stationary search model: a structural estimation to evaluate alternative unemployment insurance systems," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(2), pages 245-272, March.
    9. Jacobo de Uña Álvarez & Gema Álvarez Llorente & Mª Soledad Otero Giráldez, 2004. "Estimation of time spent in unemployment for married women: An application at regional level," Working Papers 0410, Universidade de Vigo, Departamento de Economía Aplicada.
    10. Selda Dudu, 2022. "Employability and Labor Income of Immigrants in the US: A Special Focus on the Roles of Language and Home Country Income Level," World Journal of Applied Economics, WERI-World Economic Research Institute, vol. 8(1), pages 15-34, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Willingness to work for lower wages; reservation wage; unemployment duration; unobserved heterogeneity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C41 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Duration Analysis; Optimal Timing Strategies
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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