There is a general sense that the 1990s labour market was unique. It has been characterized by notions such as "downsizing," "technological revolution," "the knowledge-based economy," "rising job instability," and so on. This paper provides an extensive overview of the performance of the 1990s...

We develop a framework for the dynamic analysis of unemployment and use it to examine the difference in unemployment rates between Canada and the United States over the period 1980-1993. An examination of both the incidence and the duration of unemployment uncovers a series of stylized facts...