Women's Unemployment During Transition: Evidence from Czech and Slovak Micro-Data

Posted: 23 Jun 1999

See all articles by John C. Ham

John C. Ham

National University of Singapore (NUS) - Department of Economics

Jan Svejnar

School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, NY, USA; CEPR; IZA; CERGE-EI; University of Ljubljana

Katherine Terrell

Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

Abstract

We analyze women's weekly probabilities of leaving unemployment in the Czech and Slovak Republics (CR and SR) in order to investigate three questions: 1) Why are unemployment rates much lower in the CR than the SR? 2) Does the unemployment compensation scheme (UCS) substantially lengthen unemployment spells? 3) Why are women's unemployment rates higher than men's? We find that differences in the behavior of the individuals, employers and institutions in the SR and CR (as measured by differences in coefficients) play a larger role in determining the CR's shorter female unemployment spells than do differences in measured demand and demographic variables. The UCS has only a moderate effect on duration, and its impact is greater in the CR. The differences between men's and women's spells (in each republic) are explained more by differences in coefficients than by differences in observed characteristics.

JEL Classification: C41, H53, J23, J64, O15, P2

Suggested Citation

Ham, John C. and Svejnar, Jan and Terrell, Katherine, Women's Unemployment During Transition: Evidence from Czech and Slovak Micro-Data. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=158088

John C. Ham (Contact Author)

National University of Singapore (NUS) - Department of Economics ( email )

1 Arts Link, AS2 #06-02
Singapore 117570, Singapore 119077
Singapore

Jan Svejnar

School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, NY, USA ( email )

420 West 118th Street
New York, NY 10027
United States

CEPR

London
United Kingdom

IZA

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

CERGE-EI

P.O. Box 882
7 Politickych veznu
111 21 Prague 1, Prague
Czech Republic

HOME PAGE: http://www.cerge-ei.cz

University of Ljubljana ( email )

Dunajska 104
Ljubljana, 1000
Slovenia

Katherine Terrell

Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan ( email )

701 Tappan Street
Ann Arbor, MI MI 48109
United States

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy ( email )

735 South State Street, Weill Hall
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Abstract Views
840
PlumX Metrics