Are Unemployment and Out of the Labor Force Behaviorally Distinct Labor Force States? / Christopher J. Flinn, James J. Heckman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Flinn, Christopher J.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Heckman, James J.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w0979.

NBER working paper series no. w0979

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Labor supply.

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1982.

Cambridge, Mass : National Bureau of Economic Research, 1982.

Summary:

This paper formulates and tests the hypothesis that the categories unemployed and out of the labor force are behaviorally distinct labor force states. Our empirical results indicate that they are. In the empirically relevant range the exit rate from unemployment to employment exceeds the exit rate from out of the labor force to employment. This evidence is shown to be consistent with a simple job search model of productive unemployment with log concave wage offer distributions. We prove that if unemployed workers receive job offers more frequently than workers out of the labor force, and if wage offer distributions are log concave, the exit rate from unemployment to employment exceeds the exit rate from out of the labor force to employment.

Notes:

Print version record

September 1982.