The cyclicality of the separation and job finding rates in France

Abstract

In this paper, we shed light on the relative contribution of the separation and job finding rates to French unemployment at business cycle frequencies by using administrative data on registered unemployment and labor force surveys. We first investigate the fluctuations in steady state unemployment, and then in current unemployment in order to take into account the unemployment deviations from equilibrium. Both data sets lead to quite similar results. Both rates contributed to unemployment fluctuations during the nineties (50:50 split), while in the last decade the job finding rate was more significant and explained around 65% of the French unemployment fluctuations. In particular, the last business cycle episode, including the last recession, exacerbated the role of the job finding rate. We then show that the predominant role of the job finding rate in the last decade holds when the economy is hit by aggregate business cycle shocks, moving unemployment and vacancies along the Beveridge curve.