We explore the extent to which composition, duration dependence, and labor force non-participation can account for the sharp increase in the incidence of long-term unemployment (LTU) during the Great Recession. We first show that compositional shifts in demographics, occupation, industry,...

This paper investigates the empirical basis for the belief that unemployment makes people less employable', and that the existence of a pool of long-term unemployed people is therefore in itself a barrier to full employment. Drawing on data for Great Britain from the 1940s to the present day, it...

New Labour has placed great faith in active labour market policies to address problems of long-term unemployment and poverty. This paper considers the effectiveness of welfare-to-work programmes in light of persistent regional employment disparities within the UK. It is argued that the...

The issues of persistence in the observed labour market status of men are investigated using the British Household Panel Survey for the period 1991-97. The paper extends previous work in many directions. In particular, problems of endogenous initial conditions, and unobserved heterogeneity, are...