Economic & Labour Market Review | Vol 4 | No 9 | September 2010The duration of unemployment is an indicator of how effi cient the labour market is at matching workers to jobs. Understanding the drivers of unemployment is of interest to policy makers, researchers and the public alike.
Economic theory suggests that there will always be some measure of frictional unemployment in any economy, as it takes time for workers to search for and find appropriate jobs (ONS, 2008). This article analyses the effect that an individual’s characteristics have on the length of their unemployment, and ultimately on their likelihood of becoming employed.
