A re-examination of the structure of unemployment

Abstract

This paper examines whether there has been a structural change in the sensitivity of unemployment to the business cycle in the United States. The analytical framework of the investigation rests on two functional relationship between unemployment and economic activity introduced by Thurow (1965). The results are conclusive in suggesting that there has been no change in this sensitivity over the period 1948–88 (QI). Thus, both total unemployment and various categories (including sex, race, age and industry) of unemployment are as sensitive to variations in the level of economic activity today as they were three decades ago.