Tackling Unemployment

Abstract

Twenty papers, all but one previously published, explore the causes of unemployment and possible remedies for it. Papers discuss why the author is an economist; wage rigidity and unemployment in OECD countries; the labor market; vacancies; whether long-term unemployment reduces a person's chance of a job; mismatch; European versus U.S. unemployment; why unemployment persists; whether achieving greater labor market flexibility is enough in combating unemployment; the causes of graduate unemployment in India; the causes and cures of unemployment in Britain; what should be done to prevent long-term unemployment; the efficiency case for long-run labor market policies; the case for subsidizing extra jobs; whether incomes policy is the answer to unemployment; the real effects of tax-based incomes policies; how to end pay leapfrogging; whether unemployment is lower if unions bargain over employment; and why the European economy must temporarily grow faster than its sustainable long-run growth rate in order to reduce unemployment. Layard is Director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Index.