This thesis utilizes flow analyses of the labour market in order to examine two key issues. First, to asses the effectiveness of active labour market policies in Britain, Ireland and Poland. Secondly, it allows us to characterize and quantify movements between labour market states which have been occurring on an unprecedented scale in economies undergoing transition. Chapters 1 and 2 investigate whether active labour market policies in Britain and Ireland have been instrumental in curing or preventing partial hysteresis due to long-term unemployment. In models of the determination of overall and duration-specific outflow rates from unemployment, the predictive power of active measures variables is tested. Chapter 3 uses the 'lista 500' panel data set to test the hypothesis that after the decentralizing reforms of the early eighties simple models of profit maximization can explain labour adjustment by large Polish enterprises. Chapter 4 traces the build up of unemployment in Poland by characterizing the composition and determinants of flows between various labour market states. Traditional flow analysis is amended by dividing the state employment into the sub-states, private and state sector employment, and by emphasizing the institutional framework unique to the Polish labour market in its first stage of transition. In Chapter 5 a unique panel data set is used to quantify labour market transitions in Eastern Germany in the first year after unification. Multinomial logit regressions are employed to highlight the determinants of the estimated transition rates. The applicability of standard models of labour market transitions to labour markets in transforming economies is also tested. Chapter 6 uses Voivodship-level aggregate panel data to evaluate passive and active labour market policies in Poland which took shape in 1991 and 1992. We also test for the existence of a well behaved matching technology in the Polish labour market. The methodology of Chapters 1 and 2 is modified to account for the panel nature of the data.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to reach an understanding of how young unemployed in Namibia perceive their chances of getting an official employment. The unemployment rates in the country are high and many have to work on the informal labour market toget an income at all. A qualitative methodology using interviews was chosen to reach an understanding of the interviewees´ situations. The interview guide was based on YOUNEX interview guide, but changed a bit to fit the Namibian context. Three women and three men were interviewed. The analyzing of the material was performed using theories discussing functions of an employment, social exclusion, social surroundings, finances and shame and different ways of entering the labour market. The results show that positive thinking and dreams of a better life are strong driving forces that keep unemployed persons´ hopes up of finding an employment. The biggest issues are the financial problems that force them to work the streets.

No description available.

The main objective of our analysis is to investigate the causes of shifts of the Beveridge curve in Great Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden. In chapter 2., we will outline the model which is the basis for our analysis. The cornerstone of our theoretical framework regarding the long-run relationship between unemployment and vacancies otherwise known as the Beveridge curve is the matching process. We will describe how certain features such as structural mismatch, the relative attractiveness of benefit provisions and changes in search intensity and search effectiveness of the unemployed, could theoretically affect the Beveridge curve. In order to analyse a possible shift of the Beveridge curve, time series analysis will be used. In chapter 3., we describe the patterns of the relevant data series. Also, we describe the significance of the long-term unemployment problem in Great Britain and the Netherlands. In the following chapter we describe the characteristics of the disability arrangements in the three relevant countries. We do this in order to explain how the disability arrangements have affected the unemployment patterns in one of our sample countries. The focal point is the existence of a hidden unemployment component in the disability stock. In order to estimate the Beveridge curve for each country, we will use the instrumental variables technique. In chapter 5., after first having tested for the suitability of our econometric practice regarding the data series in the context of the theory of cointegration, we will present and discuss several model specifications regarding the Beveridge curve. We will also test for the sensitivy of our main results to variations in data and estimation method. Also, we present models of the British and Dutch long-term unemployment patterns. In chapter 6., we will discuss the most relevant results and compare the British, Dutch and Swedish labour market experiences. Conclusions are presented in the final chapter.

No description available.

This thesis assesses the efficiency wage hypothesis using Australian industry and macro economic time series data by focussing on two questions: whether paying an above market clearing wage called the efficiency wage raises industry output and productivity, and if such a payment causes unemployment at the macro economic level. The wageproductivity or wage-output nexus is investigated using three techniques; namely a decomposition procedure used by Huang, Halam, Orazem, and Paterno (1998), an instrumental variable estimation method, and the Solow residuals approach. Further, an examination of macro economic unemployment involves developing an aggregate unemployment equation, where the Solow (1979) model is used to derive a testable hypothesis. The Solow model argues that effort, which is a function of the wage, enters the production function when the real wage is rigid. By introducing profit maximising behaviour and making further economic assumptions, the Solow condition that the effort elasticity with respect to the wage is one can be derived. The theoretical framework of Solow is useful as specifying a production function allows the possibility of aggregate data being used to assess the wage-productivity prediction. The Solow condition is also useful because it provides the basis for constructing a testable hypothesis using an unemployment equation. Solow???s theoretical framework and the Solow condition does not rely on the economic assumptions of the shirking, labour turnover, sociological and adverse selection [micro economic] efficiency wage models. Therefore, the innovation of this thesis is to treat the efficiency wage hypothesis as an imperfectly competitive model of the labour market using applied macro economic methods. Previous Australian macro economic literature in the 1970s and 1980s have argued that the wage is either harmful to employment prospects (ie unemployment is classical), or that factors such as consumption and investment are more important (ie unemployment is Keynesian). One of the aims of the thesis is to use the empirical analysis to suggest that neither of these propositions is entirely correct. Rather, an intermediate position is arrived at by arguing that there is some empirical evidence in Australian industry and macro economic time series data to suggest that the wage plays a dual function: both as a small source of productivity and also a minor cause of involuntary unemployment.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: Joseph P. Farrell.

Thesis (doctoral)--University of California, San Diego & Vienna University of Technology, 2003. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Aug. 6, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 153-155) and index.

Thesis (MHSc--Health Science) -- Auckland University of Technology, 2003. / Also held in print (84 leaves, 30 cm.) in Akoranga Theses Collection (T 331.137993 DUN)