Most economists maintain that the labor market in the United States is 'tight' because unemployment rates are low. They …, prior to that, real wages had been stagnant for some time. We show that unemployment is not key to understanding wage …

variables while it is uncorrelated with life satisfaction. The unemployment rate and the CPI reduce both. We analyze data for 29 … European countries to predict changes in the unemployment rate 12 months ahead using individuals' fears of unemployment in the … presence of country and year fixed effects and lagged unemployment. We also use firms' expectations of future employment, which …