Unemployed With Jobs and Without Jobs

Potential workers are classified as unemployed if they desire to work but are not working. The unemployed population contains two groups-those with jobs and those without jobs. Those with jobs are on furlough or temporary layoff. They wait out periods of non-work with the understanding that their jobs still exist and they will be recalled. We show that the resulting recall-unemployment dissipates quickly following a shock. Those whose jobs no longer exist constitute what we call jobless-unemployment. Shocks that elevate jobless-unemployment have much more persistent effects. The unemployed without jobs often circle through short-term jobs, spells of unemployment. and spells out of the labor force, before finding stable employment. Historical major adverse shocks, such as the financial crisis in 2008, created mostly jobless-unemployment and consequently caused extended periods of elevated unemployment. The pandemic starting in March 2020 created a large volume of recall-unemployment, most of which dissipated by August. It also created a bulge in jobless-unemployment, which is lingering