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The Effect of Search Effort on the transition from Unemployment to Work: Evidence from a Cross Section of Ghanaian Formal Sector Workers

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  • Opoku Nyarko, Christopher
  • Baah-Boateng, William
  • Nketiah-Amponsah, Edward

Abstract

While the role of search effort in the transition from unemployment to employment is not contentious, there is paucity of empirical evidence on the nexus between search effort and the duration of unemployment, especially in developing countries. Hence, this paper focuses on the time period in which the individual exits unemployment, using search intensity as a key explanatory variable. Data for the study is sourced from a survey of 404 formal sector workers in Accra who secured their first employment from 2005 and 2012. We disaggregated the transition period into three intervals namely; less than 1 month, between 1 and 12 months and more than 12 months, in order to achieve this objective. Using the multinomial logistic regression, we found that the use of multiple methods (search intensity) in the search process has a highly significant (p

Suggested Citation

  • Opoku Nyarko, Christopher & Baah-Boateng, William & Nketiah-Amponsah, Edward, 2014. "The Effect of Search Effort on the transition from Unemployment to Work: Evidence from a Cross Section of Ghanaian Formal Sector Workers," MPRA Paper 109691, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:109691
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    job search; intensity; duration; multinomial logistic regression; unemployment; Ghana;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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