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Macro-determinants of UK regional unemployment and the role of employment flexibility

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  • Monastiriotis, Vassilis

Abstract

This paper explores the macroeconomic determinants of UK regional unemployment and their relation to the influences on unemployment exerted by the levels and types of employment flexibility in the country. Theoretically the paper draws on Keynesian and monetarist explanations of unemployment and elaborates on how the two main theoretical approaches perceive the role of price stability, accumulation, macroeconomic shocks and labour market rigidities for unemployment. Empirically, the analysis relies on a novel set of flexibility indicators and examines their impact on regional unemployment, unemployment persistence, and adjustment to economic shocks. The results provide useful insights into the explored relationships and highlight the areas and conditions under which employment flexibility helps achieve favourable employment outcomes. The implications of the findings are discussed in the concluding section.

Suggested Citation

  • Monastiriotis, Vassilis, 2006. "Macro-determinants of UK regional unemployment and the role of employment flexibility," MPRA Paper 44, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:44
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    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/44/1/MPRA_paper_44.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    3. Almosabbeh, Imadeddin, 2008. "العوامل المؤثرة في البطالة في الجمهورية العربية السورية دراسة تطبيقية باستخدام منهجية التكامل المشترك [The Effective Factories in Unemployment in the Syrian Arab Republic: An Empirical Study by Usi," MPRA Paper 41871, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Employment flexibility; regional unemployment; persistence; NAIRU and Keynesian explanations of unemployment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R38 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Government Policy
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E12 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian; Modern Monetary Theory

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