The concentration of unemployment experience in spells of long donation: An analysis by age and sex

Abstract

Estimates of the completed duration of unemployment are prepared by the generation life table method. It is found that the duration of unemployment spells increases with age. However younger workers have a higher probability of becoming unemployed. Thus their higher unemployment rate is due to more, but shorter spells of unemployment. The rise in the unemployment rate for males in recent years is primarily due to an increasing duration of unemployment. When we decompose unemployment by length of spell, we find that spells of 13 weeks and longer account for between 70 and 90 percent of all significant unemployment. These results call into question the theoretical base of Government's current employment policy.