May 2008

IZA DP No. 3490: The Lot of the Unemployed: A Time Use Perspective

published in: Journal of the European Economic Association, 2012, 10 (4), 765–794

This paper provides new evidence on time use and subjective well-being of employed and unemployed individuals in 14 countries. We devote particular attention to characterizing and modeling job search intensity, measured by the amount of time devoted to searching for a new job. Job search intensity varies considerably across countries, and is higher in countries that have higher wage dispersion. We also examine the relationship between unemployment benefits and job search.