Gender and the business cycle: an analysis of labour markets in the US and UK

Razzu, G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2640-8314 and Singleton, C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8247-8830 (2016) Gender and the business cycle: an analysis of labour markets in the US and UK. Journal of Macroeconomics, 47. pp. 131-146. ISSN 0164-0704 doi: 10.1016/j.jmacro.2015.12.006

Abstract/Summary

Starting from an improved understanding of the relationship between gender labour market stocks and the business cycle, we analyse the contributing role of flows in the US and UK. Focusing on the post 2008 recession period, the subsequent greater rise in male unemployment can mostly be explained by a less cyclical response of flows between employment and unemployment for women, especially the entry into unemployment. Across gender and country, the inactivity rate is generally not sensitive to the state of the economy. However, a flows based analysis reveals a greater importance of the participation margin over the cycle. Changes in the rates of flow between unemployment and inactivity can each account for around 0.8-1.1 percentage points of the rise in US male and female unemployment rates during the latest downturn. For the UK, although the participation flow to unemployment similarly contributed to the increase of the female unemployment rate, this was not the case for men. The countercyclical flow rate from inactivity to employment was also more significant for women, especially in the US, where it accounted for approximately all of the fall in employment, compared with only 40% for men.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/51709
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Politics, Economics and International Relations > Economics
Publisher	Elsevier
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