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Youth Unemployment and Crime: New Lessons Exploring Longitudinal Register Data

Author

Listed:
  • Grönqvist, Hans

    (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University)

Abstract

This paper investigates the link between youth unemployment and crime using a unique combination of labor market and conviction data spanning the entire Swedish working-age population over an extended period. The empirical analysis reveals large and statistically significant effects of unemployment on several types of crime. The magnitude of the effect is similar across different subgroups of the population. In contrast to most previous studies, the results suggest that joblessness explain a meaningful portion of why male youths are overrepresented among criminal offenders. I discuss reasons for the discrepancy in the results and show that that the use of aggregated measures of labor market opportunities in past studies is likely to capture offsetting general equilibrium effects. Contrary to predictions by economic theory the effect of unemployment on crime is not mediated by income. Instead, an analysis of crimes committed during weekdays versus weekends provides suggestive evidence that unemployment increases the time that individuals have to engage in crime.

Suggested Citation

  • Grönqvist, Hans, 2011. "Youth Unemployment and Crime: New Lessons Exploring Longitudinal Register Data," Working Paper Series 7/2011, Stockholm University, Swedish Institute for Social Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:sofiwp:2011_007
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    File URL: http://www.sofi.su.se/content/1/c6/03/09/74/WP11no7.pdf
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Grönqvist, Hans & Niknami, Susan, 2014. "Alcohol availability and crime: Lessons from liberalized weekend sales restrictions," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 77-84.
    2. Halil Tunca & Ferda Esin Gulel, 2019. "Youth unemployment and crime: an empirical investigation for Turkey," Managerial Economics, AGH University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Management, vol. 20(1), pages 27-42.
    3. Costas Meghir & Mårten Palme & Marieke Schnabel, 2011. "The effect of education policy on crime: an intergenerational perspective," IFS Working Papers W11/11, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    4. Martin Nordin & Daniel Almén, 2017. "Long-term unemployment and violent crime," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 1-29, February.
    5. Siwach, Garima, 2018. "Unemployment shocks for individuals on the margin: Exploring recidivism effects," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 231-244.
    6. Zethembe Mseleku, 2022. "Post-University Training for Jobless Market: The Experiences of Graduates in a Work Experience Programme," Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Richtmann Publishing Ltd, vol. 11, September.
    7. Nordin , Martin, 2014. "Does Eligibility for Tertiary Education Affect Crime Rates? Quasi-Experimental Evidence," Working Papers 2014:14, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    8. Randi Hjalmarsson & Helena Holmlund & Matthew J. Lindquist, 2015. "The Effect of Education on Criminal Convictions and Incarceration: Causal Evidence from Micro‐data," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(587), pages 1290-1326, September.
    9. Jonathan Torres‐Tellez & Alberto Montero Soler, 2023. "After the economic crisis of 2008: Economic conditions and crime in the last decade for the case of Spain," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 82(3), pages 223-239, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unemployment; Delinquency; Age-crime profile;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

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