In this paper we examine the impact of rises in inactivity on wages in the US economy and find evidence of a … impact of the unemployment rate itself. This pattern holds across recent decades in the US data, and the relationship … strengthens in recent years when variation in participation increases. We also examine the impact of long-term unemployment on …

not the case. Although unemployment is low, the labor market is not 'tight'. On the contrary, we show that what matters …

pay and the local unemployment rate - in modern U.S. data. Consistent with recent evidence from more than 40 other …'s theoretical framework: (i) wages are higher in states with more generous unemployment benefits, (ii) the perceived probability of … job-finding is lower in states with higher unemployment, and (iii) employees are less happy in states that have higher …