Wage Bargaining and Unemployment Persistence

Working Paper: NBER ID: w3664

Authors: Olivier Jean Blanchard

Abstract: This paper looks at models of unemployment which make two central assumptions. The first is that wages are bargained between firms and employed workers, and that unemployment affects the outcome only to the extent that it affects the labor market prospects of either employed workers or of firms. The second is that the duration of unemployment affects either the search behavior or the skills of the unemployed, and/or the perceptions of firms of such skills. It argues that such models may explain riot only the evolution of European unemployment over the last two decades -an evolution which triggered their development, but many of the cyclical features of labor markets in general.

Keywords: Unemployment; Wage Bargaining

JEL Codes: E24; J64


Causal Claims Network Graph

Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.


Causal Claims

CauseEffect
higher unemployment (J64)lower wages (J31)
unemployment (J64)wage outcomes (J31)
duration of unemployment (J64)wage bargaining outcomes (J52)

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