Given that for France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands the unemployment rates are best classified as <italic>I</italic>(1), we apply permanent-transitory decompositions based on co-integrated Vector Autoregressions (VAR) with relevant variables (labour productivity, wages, tax wedges, foreign relative prices)...

The macroeconomic impact of the French work-sharing reform of 2000 (a reduction of standard working hours in combination with wage subsidies) is analysed. Using a vector error correction model (VECM) for several labour market variables, as well as inflation and output, out-of-sample forecasts...