affects private sector employment, the unemployment level, and the unemployment duration in the transition economies of … private sector and a high unemployment level of long duration. The paper also addresses the issue of the optimal (output …

We propose a theory of low-frequency movements in unemployment based on asymmetric real wage rigidities. The theory … generates two main predictions: long-run unemployment increases with (i) a fall in long-run productivity growth and (ii) a rise …-run unemployment over the 1980s and its rise during the late 2000s. …