Long-term unemployment: A question of skill obsolescence (updating existing skills) or technological shift (acquiring new skills)?
ISSN: 0144-3585
Article publication date: 24 February 2020
Issue publication date: 27 July 2020
Abstract
Purpose
This paper empirically explores the role of skill losses during unemployment behind firms' behaviour in interviewing long-term unemployed
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis makes use of the Work Employment Relations Survey in the UK, while it applies a panel probit modelling approach to estimate the empirical findings.
Findings
The findings document that skill losses during long-term unemployment reduce the likelihood of an interview, while they emphasize the need for certain policies that could compensate for this deterioration of skills. For robustness check, the estimation strategy survives the examination of the same predictors under different types of the working environment.
Originality/value
The original values of the work 1 combines for the first time both duration and technology as predictors of interview probability. Until now, the independent variables were used to test whether an individual has managed to exit unemployment, thus skipping the step of the interview process.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors express their gratitude to the referees of this journal for their valuable comments and suggestions that enhanced the merit of this work. Special thanks also go to the editor for giving them the opportunity to revise their work. Needless to say, the usual disclaimer applies.
Citation
Apergis, E. and Apergis, N. (2020), "Long-term unemployment: A question of skill obsolescence (updating existing skills) or technological shift (acquiring new skills)?", Journal of Economic Studies, Vol. 47 No. 4, pp. 713-727. https://doi.org/10.1108/JES-12-2018-0424
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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