The distribution of unemployment by age and the unemployment rate: A puzzle?

This paper examines the effects of the distribution of unemployment by age on the level of unemployment. We provide an extension of the standard equilibrium unemployment model that allows for age dependent job finding probabilities and quit rates. In the empirical part of the paper we apply a panel estimator on data for a set of OECD countries to test the implications of the theoretical model. The results provide the somewhat surprising evidence that the distribution of unemployment by age has a hump-shape effect on the unemployment rate.