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Evaluating the role of labor market mismatch in rising unemployment

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  • Gadi Barlevy

Abstract

Recent labor market trends have raised concerns that the unemployment rate is high not because employers are reluctant to hire but because they are unable to hire. These concerns, if true, would cast doubt on using monetary policy to stimulate the labor market, since it works by encouraging firms to hire more. Using a matching function approach, the author finds that a shock that makes it more difficult for firms to hire qualified applicants would by itself imply an unemployment rate of no more than 7.1 percent, much below the actual unemployment rate during the past two years. Hence, the recent patterns in unemployment and vacancy data do not necessarily rule out a role for monetary policy.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedhep:y:2011:i:qiii:p:82-96:n:v.35no.3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Shibata Ippei, 2020. "Is Labor Market Mismatch a Big Deal in Japan?," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 20(2), pages 1-28, June.
    2. Sun, Ting & Bian, Xuezi & Liu, Jianxu & Wang, Rui & Sriboonchitta, Songsak, 2023. "The economic and social effects of skill mismatch in China: A DSGE model with skill and firm heterogeneity," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    3. Francesco Furlanetto & Nicolas Groshenny, 2012. "Matching efficiency and business cycle fluctuations," Working Paper 2012/07, Norges Bank.
    4. Vitaliano Donald F., 2012. "An Empirical Estimate of the Labor Response Function for Benefit-Cost Analysis," Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, De Gruyter, vol. 3(3), pages 1-12, August.
    5. Ioana Marinescu & Roland Rathelot, 2018. "Mismatch Unemployment and the Geography of Job Search," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(3), pages 42-70, July.
    6. Wesselbaum, Dennis, 2019. "Jobless recoveries: The interaction between financial and search frictions," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 1-1.
    7. Ravn, Morten O. & Sterk, Vincent, 2017. "Job uncertainty and deep recessions," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 125-141.
    8. Olegs Krasnopjorovs, 2015. "Natural and Cyclical Unemployment in Latvia: New Insights from the Beveridge Curve Model," Discussion Papers 2015/02, Latvijas Banka.
    9. Gina Cristina Dimian & Liviu Stelian Begu & Josef Jablonsky, 2017. "Unemployment and labour market mismatch in the European Union Countries," Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci/Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, vol. 35(1), pages 13-44.
    10. René Böheim & Michael Christl, 2022. "Mismatch unemployment in Austria: the role of regional labour markets for skills," Regional Studies, Regional Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 208-222, December.
    11. Sedláček, Petr, 2014. "Match efficiency and firms' hiring standards," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 123-133.
    12. Ay?egül ?ahin & Joseph Song & Giorgio Topa & Giovanni L. Violante, 2014. "Mismatch Unemployment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(11), pages 3529-3564, November.
    13. Yuelin Liu, 2022. "How structural is unemployment in the United States?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(3), pages 1258-1276, July.
    14. Peter Diamond, 2013. "Cyclical Unemployment, Structural Unemployment," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 61(3), pages 410-455, August.
    15. Peter A. Diamond & Aysegül Sahin, 2016. "Disaggregating the Matching Function," CESifo Working Paper Series 6266, CESifo.
    16. Riccardo Zago, 2020. "Job Polarization, Skill Mismatch and the Great Recession," Working papers 755, Banque de France.
    17. Cardullo, Gabriele & Guerci, Eric, 2019. "Interpreting the Beveridge curve. An agent-based approach," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 84-100.
    18. René Böheim & Michael Christl, 2021. "Mismatch unemployment in Austria," Economics working papers 2021-06, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    19. Diamond, Peter A. & Şahin, Ayşegül, 2015. "Shifts in the Beveridge curve," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 18-25.
    20. Michael Christl & Monika Köppl–Turyna & Dénes Kucsera, 2016. "Structural unemployment after the crisis in Austria," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-36, December.
    21. Marcelo Veracierto, 2011. "Worker flows and matching efficiency," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 35(Q IV), pages 147-169.

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    Keywords

    Labor market; Unemployment;

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