Submitted by unsettling economics

Following up my last post that suggested family stability inhibits labor flexibility, I might mention that in our own recent hiring experience at Chico State, an inordinate number of good candidates proved unemployable because of the need to accommodate a spouse.

In a similar vein, Andrew Oswald showed that home ownership is the most reasonable explanation for differences in unemployment rates between countries.  His scatter graph has a very impressive fit, presumably because people with homes are less likely to pick up and leave for a new job.

Oswald, Andrew J. 1999. “The Housing Market and Europe’s Unemployment: A Non-Technical Paper.”

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/faculty/oswald/homesnt.pdf

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