IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/fan/quaqua/vhtml10.3280-qua2019-110002.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measuring Unemployment by Means of Official Data and Administrative Records: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Guerrazzi
  • Ilham Ksebi

Abstract

This paper addresses the measurement of unemployment in the Italian region-al context. Specifically, retrieving data from Tuscany, we compare the picture of unemployment that emerges by exploring official data and administrative records over the period after the burst of the Great Recession. Consistently with previous findings, we find that registered unemployment is higher, more persistent and more concentrated on women than its official measure. Nevertheless, we show that the cyclical behaviour of registered job seekers is similar to the one of official job seekers. Moreover, we provide a way to reconcile the two measures of unemploy-ment. Thereafter, we develop a model that provides a rationale for the coexistence of official and registered job seekers and we explore how it reacts to productivity shocks and its policy implications. Finally, we offer some insights about the desir-ability of an integrated use of these data.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Guerrazzi & Ilham Ksebi, 2019. "Measuring Unemployment by Means of Official Data and Administrative Records: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives," QUADERNI DI ECONOMIA DEL LAVORO, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2019(110), pages 17-49.
    • Handle: RePEc:fan:quaqua:v:html10.3280/qua2019-110002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=66017&Tipo=ArticoloPDF
    Download Restriction: Single articles can be downloaded buying download credits, for info: https://www.francoangeli.it/DownloadCredit
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Olivier J. Blanchard & Lawrence H. Summers, 1986. "Hysteresis and the European Unemployment Problem," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1986, Volume 1, pages 15-90, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Shuaizhang Feng & Yingyao Hu, 2013. "Misclassification Errors and the Underestimation of the US Unemployment Rate," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(2), pages 1054-1070, April.
    3. David T. Coe & Dennis J. Snower, 1997. "Policy Complementarities: The Case for Fundamental Labor Market Reform," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 44(1), pages 1-35, March.
    4. Gabriele Cardullo & Marco Guerrazzi, 2016. "The Cyclical Volatility of Equilibrium Unemployment and Vacancies: Evidence From Italy," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 30(4), pages 433-454, December.
    5. 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.
    6. Olivier Blanchard & Francesco Giavazzi, 2003. "Macroeconomic Effects of Regulation and Deregulation in Goods and Labor Markets," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(3), pages 879-907.
    7. Burchardt, Tania & Le Grand, Julian, 2002. "Constraint and opportunity: identifying voluntary non-employment," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 4650, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Fernando Alvarez & Robert Shimer, 2011. "Search and Rest Unemployment," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 79(1), pages 75-122, January.
    9. Assar Lindbeck & Dennis J. Snower, 1989. "The Insider-Outsider Theory of Employment and Unemployment," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026262074x, April.
    10. Xiaoxia Wang & Wenkai Sun, 2014. "Discrepancy between Registered and Actual Unemployment Rates in China: An Investigation in Provincial Capital Cities," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 22(4), pages 40-59, July.
    11. Blanchard, Olivier J. & Summers, Lawrence H., 1987. "Hysteresis in unemployment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-2), pages 288-295.
    12. Stephen R. G. Jones & W. Craig Riddell, 1999. "The Measurement of Unemployment: An Empirical Approach," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 67(1), pages 147-162, January.
    13. John Knight & Jinjun Xue, 2006. "How High is Urban Unemployment in China?," Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(2), pages 91-107.
    14. Erich Battistin & Enrico Rettore & Ugo Trivellato, 2007. "Choosing between alternative classification criteria to measure the labour force state," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 170(1), pages 5-27, January.
    15. Tania Burchardt & Julian Le Grand, 2002. "Constraint and Opportunity: Identifying Voluntary Non-Employment," CASE Papers case55, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    16. Andrea Brandolini & Piero Cipollone & Eliana Viviano, 2006. "Does The Ilo Definition Capture All Unemployment?," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 4(1), pages 153-179, March.
    17. Burchardt, Tania & Le Grand, Julian, 2002. "Constraint and opportunity: identifying voluntary non-employment," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 51317, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Luis a. Gil-alana & Liang Jiang, 2013. "Unemployment in the US. Unemployment rate versus claimant counts. Mean reversion, persistence or hysteresis," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(3), pages 1978-1982.
    19. Konle-Seidl, Regina & Lüdeke, Britta, 2017. "What harmonised and registered unemployment rates do not tell," IAB-Forschungsbericht 201706, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    20. Tania Burchardt & Julian Le Grand, 2002. "Constraint and Opportunity: Identifying Voluntary Non-Employment," CASE Papers 055, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    21. Davide Antonioli & Paolo Pini, 2014. "Europe and Italy: Expansionary Austerity, Expansionary Precariousness and the Italian Jobs Act," Working Papers 2014153, University of Ferrara, Department of Economics.
    22. Tindara Addabbo & Rosa García-Fernández & Carmen Llorca-Rodríguez & Anna Maccagnan, 2011. "The impact of the crisis on unemployment and household income in Italy and Spain," Working Papers 235, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    23. Allmendinger, Jutta & Hipp, Lena & Stuth, Stefan, 2013. "Atypical employment in Europe 1996-2011," Discussion Papers, Presidential Department P 2013-003, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    24. Krause, Michael U. & Lubik, Thomas A., 2006. "The cyclical upgrading of labor and on-the-job search," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 459-477, August.
    25. George Kyriacou & Marios Louca & Michalis Ktoris, 2009. "Unemployment in Cyprus: Comparison between Two Alternative Measurement Methods," Cyprus Economic Policy Review, University of Cyprus, Economics Research Centre, vol. 3(2), pages 23-39, December.
    26. Michele Catalano & Emilia Pezzolla, 2017. "The Italian Labor Market Reform: An Evaluation of the Jobs Act Using the Prometeia DSGE Model," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 3(2), pages 209-238, July.
    27. Giuseppe Bertola & Pietro Garibaldi, 2003. "The Structure and History of Italian Unemployment," CESifo Working Paper Series 907, CESifo.
    28. Paolo Sestito & Eliana Viviano, 2016. "Hiring incentives and/or firing cost reduction? Evaluating the impact of the 2015 policies on the Italian labour market," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 325, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    29. Gianna Barbieri & Giovanni Di Bartolomeo & Pietro Gennari & Paolo Sestito, 2005. "Chi sono gli utenti dei Servizi per l’Impiego?," Labor and Demography 0504011, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marco Guerrazzi, 2020. "Wage and employment determination in a dynamic insider–outsider model," Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 1-23, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Guerrazzi, Marco & Meccheri, Nicola, 2012. "From wage rigidity to labour market institution rigidity: A turning-point in explaining unemployment?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 189-197.
    2. Brand, Claus & Obstbaum, Meri & Coenen, Günter & Sondermann, David & Lydon, Reamonn & Ajevskis, Viktors & Hammermann, Felix & Angino, Siria & Hernborg, Nils & Basso, Henrique & Hertweck, Matthias & Bi, 2021. "Employment and the conduct of monetary policy in the euro area," Occasional Paper Series 275, European Central Bank.
    3. Christine Le Clainche & Sandy Tubeuf, 2016. "Nudging, intervening or rewarding," Politics, Philosophy & Economics, , vol. 15(2), pages 170-189, May.
    4. Greco, Giulia & Skordis-Worrall, Jolene & Mkandawire, Bryan & Mills, Anne, 2015. "What is a good life? Selecting capabilities to assess women's quality of life in rural Malawi," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 69-78.
    5. Marco Guerrazzi, 2020. "Wage and employment determination in a dynamic insider–outsider model," Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 1-23, January.
    6. Germain, Antoine, 2023. "Basic income versus fairness: redistribution with inactive agents," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2023022, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    7. Carlsson, Mikael & Eriksson, Stefan & Gottfries, Nils, 2006. "Testing Theories of Job Creation: Does Supply Create Its Own Demand?," Working Paper Series 194, Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden).
    8. Karanassou, Marika & Sala, Hector & Snower, Dennis J., 2005. "A reappraisal of the inflation-unemployment tradeoff," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 1-32, March.
    9. Lars Ljungqvist & Thomas J. Sargent, 1996. "A supply-side explanation of European unemployment," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 20(Sep), pages 2-15.
    10. S. Haincourt. & M. Mogliani., 2012. "Has the 2008-2009 recession increased the structural share of unemployment in the euro area?," Quarterly selection of articles - Bulletin de la Banque de France, Banque de France, issue 25, pages 63-80, Spring.
    11. Gersbach, Hans & Schniewind, Achim, 2001. "Awareness of General Equilibrium Effects and Unemployment," IZA Discussion Papers 394, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Boeri, Tito & Burda, Michael C., 2004. "Preferences for Rigid versus Individualized Wage Setting in Search Economies with Frictions," IZA Discussion Papers 1133, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Robert J. Barro, 1989. "New Classicals and Keynesians, or the Good Guys and the Bad Guys," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 125(III), pages 263-273, September.
    14. Alfonso Arpaia & Gilles Mourre, 2012. "Institutions And Performance In European Labour Markets: Taking A Fresh Look At Evidence," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 1-41, February.
    15. Belke Ansgar, 2018. "Secular Stagnation, Unemployment Hysteresis and Monetary Policy in EMU: Scratches but Not Scars?," The Economists' Voice, De Gruyter, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    16. T. Aksoy & P. Manasse, 2018. "The Persistence-Resilience Trade-off in Unemployment: The Role of Labor and Product Market Institutions," Working Papers wp1121, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    17. Amaral, Pedro S. & Tasci, Murat, 2016. "The cyclical behavior of equilibrium unemployment and vacancies across OECD countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 184-201.
    18. Mohammad Hashem Pesaran & Yongcheol Shin & Richard J Smith, 1999. "Bounds Testing Approaches to the Analysis of Long Run Relationships," Edinburgh School of Economics Discussion Paper Series 46, Edinburgh School of Economics, University of Edinburgh.
    19. Kevin S. Nell, 2006. "Structural Change And Nonlinearities In A Phillips Curve Model For South Africa," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 24(4), pages 600-617, October.
    20. Magnus Gustavsson & Pär Österholm, 2007. "Does Unemployment Hysteresis Equal Employment Hysteresis?," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 83(261), pages 159-173, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fan:quaqua:v:html10.3280/qua2019-110002. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Stefania Rosato (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/sommario.aspx?IDRivista=80 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.