Job Loss in the Great Recession: Historical Perspective from the Displaced Workers Survey, 1984-2010 / Henry S. Farber.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Farber, Henry S.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w17040.

NBER working paper series no. w17040

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Job Loss in the Great Recession

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2011.

Summary:

The Great Recession from December 2007 to June 2009 is associated with a dramatic weakening of the labor market from which the labor market is now only slowly recovering. The unemployment rate remains stubbornly high and durations of unemployment are unprecedentedly long. I use data from the Displaced Workers Survey (DWS) from 1984-2010 to investigate the incidence and consequences of job loss from 1981-2009. In particular, the January 2010 DWS, which captures job loss during the 2007-2009 period, provides a window through which to examine the experience of job losers in the Great Recession and to compare their experience to that of earlier job losers. These data show a record high rate of job loss, with almost one in six workers reporting having lost a job in the 2007-2009 period. The consequences of job loss are also very serious during this period with very low rates of reemployment, difficulty finding full-time employment, and substantial earnings losses.

Notes:

Print version record

May 2011.