Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T23:02:16.806Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Use of Unemployment and Vacancy Data in Analysing Unemployment(*)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2016

Jim Taylor
Jim Taylor*
Affiliation:
University of Lancaster
Get access

Extract

INTRODUCTION

Until 1975, unemployment in the UK had remained below the 1 million mark for over 30 years. Between 1979 and 1982 it rose from under 1.5 million to over 3 million and has remained there ever since. The 1980s have certainly been a disaster as far as unemployment is concerned and a question of paramount importance to policymakers is whether the government can do anything to reduce unemployment significantly in the foreseeable future. The answer to this question depends on the causes of unemployment and whether these causes can be affected by government action. Unfortunately, the causes of current unemployment are not clearly understood and there is a startling lack of consensus amongst policymakers and their economic advisers over what can (or should) be done to tackle the unemployment problem.

One of the issues about which there is substantial disagreement amongst economists is whether unemployment is currently high because of a deficiency in the aggregate demand for goods, or whether it is high for other reasons. These other reasons include : the existence of disincentives to take jobs because unemployment benefit is too high relative to net takehome pay ; a serious mismatch between labour demand and labour supply ; excessively high real wages relative to labour productivity; the sudden structural collapse of large sections of UK manufacturing industry; and a combination of these factors.

Type
Research Article
Information
Recherches Économiques de Louvain/ Louvain Economic Review , Volume 52 , Issue 3-4: Symposium on Unemployment in Europe , December 1986 , pp. 257 - 282
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de recherches économiques et sociales 1986 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Paper presented to the European Production Study Group Conference in Maastricht, Holland.

References

REFERENCES

Armstrong, H. and Taylor, J. (1981), The Measurement of Different Types of Unemployment in The Economics of Unemployment in Britain, edited by Creedy, John, Butterworth, London, pp. 99–127.Google Scholar
Armstrong, H. and Taylor, J. (1982), The u-v Method of Categorising the Unemployed: an Amendment, Bulletin of Economic Research, Volume 34, May, pp. 77–78.Google Scholar
Armstrong, H. and Taylor, J. (1985), Regional Economics and Policy, Philip Allan, Deddington, Oxford.Google Scholar
de Neubourg, C. (1986), Unspecified Floating Unemployment and the Specification of the u-v Curve, European Production Studies Group Conference, University of Limburg, Maastricht.Google Scholar
Department of Employment (1980), A Review of Unemployment and Vacancy Statistics, Employment Gazette, May, pp. 497–503.Google Scholar
Department of Employment (1983), Statistics of Redundancies and Recent Trends, Employment Gazette, June, pp. 245–249.Google Scholar
Dow, J.C.R. and Dicks-Mireaux, L.A. (1958), The Excess Demand for Labour: A Study of Conditions in Great Britain, 1946–56, Oxford Economic Papers, Volume 10, pp. 1–33.Google Scholar
Gleave, D. and Palmer, D. (1979), Spatial Variations in Unemployment Problems: a Typology, Papers of the Regional Science Association, Volume 44, 1980, pp. 57–71.Google Scholar
Hughes, J.J. (1974), The Use of Vacancy Statistics in Classifying and Measuring Structural and Frictional Unemployment in Great Britain, 1958–72, Bulletin of Economic Research, Volume 26, pp. 12–33.Google Scholar
Jackman, R. and Roper, J. (1985), Structural Unemployment, Discussion Paper No. 233, Centre for Labour Economics, London School of Economics, October.Google Scholar
King, J.E. (1986), How Large Is the Structural Element in the Current Unemployment?, Australian Bulletin of Labour, March.Google Scholar
O.E.C.D. (1986), United Kingdom, OECD Economic Surveys 1985/86, January, Paris.Google Scholar
Perlman, R. (1969), Labor Theory, Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Record, N., Manufacturing Capacity, unpublished paper, Clark, C.&J., Street, Somerset.Google Scholar
Thirlwall, A.P. (1969), Types of Unemployment with Special Reference to Non-Deficient-Demand Unemployment in Great Britain, Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Volume 16, pp. 20–49.Google Scholar
Thirlwall, A.P. (1974), Types of Unemployment in the Regions of Great Britain, Manchester School, Volume 42, pp. 325–339.Google Scholar