Skill Depreciation during Unemployment: Evidence from Panel Data

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Cohen, Jonathan; Johnston, Andrew C.; Lindner, Attila
• 署名单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); University of California System; University of California Merced; University of London; University College London
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.20230195
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 208-235
• 关键词: DURATION DEPENDENCE

摘要

We examine the depreciation of skills among unemployed German workers using a panel of skill measures linked to administrative data. Both the reemployment hazard and reemployment earnings steadily decline with unemployment duration. Indicators of depression and loneliness also rise substantially. However, we find no decline in a wide range of cognitive and noncognitive skills while workers remain unemployed. We find the same pattern in a panel of American workers. The results imply that skill depreciation in general human capital is unlikely to be a major explanation for observed duration dependence in reemployment outcomes. (JEL E24, E32, J22, J24, J31, J64)