This paper sets out to detect the costs of joblessness in Italy and Spain, two countries that show major differences in labour market structure and in their reaction to the crisis. We describe the different unemployment insurance systems in the two countries and how the crisis has hit the two...

Purpose – The current economic crisis has significantly increased unemployment, showing higher persistence than expected. However, since microdata from household surveys are issued with delay, they do not allow a prompt analysis of the impact of the economic cycle on households’ living...