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The growth of registered unemployment since the mid-1960s has the appearance of a cycle of increasing amplitude about an accelerating upward trend. Chart 1 illustrates this well. The cyclical variation of unemployment was already familiar before the 1960s and its behaviour is, we would maintain, quite predictable and reasonably well understood. The upward trend, however, was not predicted and its origin and significance are matters of uncertainty and dispute. The nature of the problem is highlighted by the contrast between the upward trend in registered unemployment and the almost trendless series for notified vacancies. These two series and the other labour market indicators in table 1 all show a consistent cyclical movement but their secular growth rates are quite different.

This paper quantifies the interdependence in national labor markets in Central America, a topic that has not received attention in the economic integration literature. Two sets of panel data are constructed: one formed by the aggregation of annual time series data from Costa Rica and El Salvador, and another with data from Honduras and Nicaragua. These two sets of data are used to estimate a Var model that includes the variables economic growth, investment, and unemployment rates; another Var is estimated including the change in export ratios in place of the investment rates. The results indicate that there are strong cross border effects in the sense that national unemployment rates drop in response to shocks to economic growth, investment and export ratios in other countries, and in some cases the induced fall in unemployment is larger than the one resulting from domestic variables. The paper ends with a series of considerations on the design of regional stabilization policies.

Having stayed at about 2.4 per cent (seasonally adjusted) from October to December last year, unemployment (including the temporarily stopped) rose to 2.6 per cent in January and February but then fell back to the rate of 2.4 per cent in March.

This study was funded by Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare, FORTE, Dnr 2015–00048; and also received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 802631. The funding agencies had no role or influence in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of the data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the paper for publication. The data collection in each country was funded at the national level. ; Background: Previous research shows that parental unemployment is associated with low life satisfaction in adolescents. It is unclear whether this translates to an association between national unemployment and adolescent life satisfaction, and whether such a contextual association is entirely explained by parental unemployment, or if it changes as a function thereof. For adults, associations have been shown between unemployment and mental health, including that national unemployment can affect mental health and life satisfaction of both the employed and the unemployed, but to different degrees. The aim of this paper is to analyse how national unemployment levels are related to adolescent life satisfaction, across countries as well as over time within a country, and to what extent and in what ways such an association depends on whether the individual's own parents are unemployed or not. Methods: Repeated cross-sectional data on adolescents' (aged 11, 13 and 15 years, n = 386,402) life satisfaction and parental unemployment were collected in the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey, in 27 countries and 74 country-years, across 2001/02, 2005/06 and 2009/10 survey cycles. We linked this data to national harmonised unemployment rates provided by OECD and tested their associations using multilevel linear regression, including interaction terms between national and parental unemployment. Results: Higher national unemployment rates were related to lower adolescent life satisfaction, cross-sectionally between countries but not over time within countries. The verified association was significant for adolescents with and without unemployed parents, but stronger so in adolescents with unemployed fathers or both parents unemployed. Having an unemployed father, mother och both parents was in itself related to lower life satisfaction. Conclusion: Living in a country with higher national unemployment seems to be related to lower adolescent life satisfaction, whether parents are unemployed or not, although stronger among adolescents where the father or both parents are unemployed. However, variation in unemployment over the years did not show an association with adolescent life satisfaction. ; publishersversion ; published

"This book investigates why networks, some with joined-up governance remits, appeared ineffective in handling neighbourhood unemployment even in periods when the national unemployment levels dropped. It deploys a multi-theoretical and methodological framework to investigate this empirical puzzle, and to test and analyse the causal factors influencing network outcomes. Chapters examine network concepts, network theories, outcome indicators, the historical infrastructure and management of unemployment policy, and governing network trends in post-war urban regeneration interventions. Comparative network case studies offer empirical evidence and a high degree of local variation. Mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative approaches), including social network analysis, uncover formal and informal networks, and eighty-six interviews in two English local authorities with persistent unemployment, give voice to network practitioner experiences. Findings explain why sub-optimal network outcomes prevail and operational difficulties persist on the ground. Students and academics, professionals and activists can use the results to challenge network governance theories and the policy status-quo."-- Provided by publisher

This book investigates why networks, some with joined-up governance remits, appeared ineffective in handling neighbourhood unemployment even in periods when the national unemployment levels dropped. It deploys a multi-theoretical and methodological framework to investigate this empirical puzzle, and to test and analyse the causal factors influencing network outcomes. Chapters examine network concepts, network theories, outcome indicators, the historical infrastructure and management of unemployment policy, and governing network trends in post-war urban regeneration interventions. Comparative network case studies offer empirical evidence and a high degree of local variation. Mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative approaches), including social network analysis, uncover formal and informal networks, and eighty-six interviews in two English local authorities with persistent unemployment, give voice to network practitioner experiences. Findings explain why sub-optimal network outcomes prevail and operational difficulties persist on the ground. Students and academics, professionals and activists can use the results to challenge network governance theories and the policy status-quo. J.M. Hurst completed her PhD in Politics Research at Birkbeck College, University of London, UK. She has practitioner experience of the policy field and is currently carrying out multidisciplinary research on the subject of unemployment identities and network impact.