Regional disparities in unemployment rates are large and persistent, particularly in some economies such as Spain. Previous contributions to the literature have provided evidence on their magnitude and evolution, as well as on the role of some economic, demographic and environmental factors in...

A distinctive feature of unemployment is that its incidence is far from being homogeneously distributed in the territory. Disparities in unemployment rates are not only observed between countries but also between regions within countries. The available evidence indicates that since the early 80s...

The aim of this work is to assess the effectiveness of active labour market policies carried out by the Catalan Public Employment Services (SOC) during the year 2005. The results obtained from the application of matching techniques show that the probability of finding a job for an individual who...

This paper investigates the role of institutions for labour market performance across European countries. As participation rates have been rather stable over the past, the unemployment problem is mainly caused by shortages in labour demand. Labour demand is expressed by its structural...