We analyze the e ect of rising Chinese import competition between 1990 and 2007 on local U.S. labor markets, exploiting cross-market variation in import exposure stemming from initial di erences in industry specialization while instrumenting for imports using changes in Chinese imports by industry to other high-income countries. Rising exposure increases unemployment, lowers labor force partici...

Multiple Job Holding, Local Labor Markets, and the Business Cycle* About 5 percent of U.S. workers hold multiple jobs, which can exacerbate or mitigate employment changes over the business cycle. Theory is ambiguous and prior literature is not fully conclusive. We examine the relationship between multiple job holding and local unemployment rates using a large Current Population Survey data set ...

Goldin argues that the most significant change in labor markets over the past century was the increased participation of women in the labor market. Figure 1 summarizes historical trends in mens' and womens' labor force participation.

The Gradual Transformation of Continental European Labor Markets: France and Germany Compared Germany and France are both Continental European welfare states with severe labor market problems such as low employment and high and persistent unemployment which can be explained by labor market institutions that inhibit labor market adaptability. This paper analyzes recent reforms in core areas such...

The paper builds on the baseline Goodwin (1967) model which describes the reserve army mechanism of capitalist economies. We add to this model segmented labor markets as described in Marx’s Capital, Vol.I. The model exhibits a unique steady state solution which depends on the speeds with which workers are pushed into or out of the labor market segments. We investigate the stability properties o...