Purpose This paper aims to analyze the question of how household indebtedness impacts households’ incentives to search for and accept work after displacement. Design/methodology/approach To analyze the relationship between household indebtedness and unemployment duration, this paper applies standard proportional hazard models. For data, this paper relies on the longitudinal US National Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), covering the period between 2008 and 2012. Findings The findings show that a 10% increase in household debt increases the likelihood (hazard) of leaving unemployment by 0.2%–0.4% points. Independent of measuring a household's indebtedness and in light of a series of robustness tests, the results indicate that the pressure of servicing an existing debt burden forces individuals to return to work. Social implications From a policy perspective, the research findings support the notion that household indebtedness plays an important mediating role for labor market outcomes through influencing households’ incentives to return to work after displacement. This finding has important implications for the design of effective policy responses to mass layoffs during the current pandemic. Originality/value A key innovation of the research is that we can show that household indebtedness impacts the labor supply side. From a macroeconomic perspective, this insight is important in better understanding the role of increased indebtedness (and financialization) in amplifying aggregate macroeconomic dynamics.

The onset of the housing and subsequent financial crisis in 2008 marked the steepest economic downturn in the United. States, since the Great Depression in the late 1920s and 1930s. This most recent financial crisis has been characterized by massive layoffs and displacement. Given the depth of the recent 'great' recession and its links to the finance and housing industries, both economists and policy analysts have speculated that the sticky jobless situation for many would-be workers is also related to their level of individual and/or household debt. In contrast to a growing literature that links financial market conditions on employers' hiring capabilities, we focus on the question how household indebtedness renders households' incentives to search for and take up a new job after displacement? Using information on households' labor market and financial behavior from the Survey.

A gap in the displaced worker-training literature is that the post-retraining period has not been studied over the long term. The approach here will be to examine in-depth the experience of a selected few displaced worker trainees over a 20 to 25 year period following their training. With our small sample, but in-depth examination, we will begin to remedy this gap in the literature. To understand better the training programs available for displaced steelworkers, we also interviewed people involved with the development and delivery of training. Further, when we discovered the grass roots growth of organizations to help displaced workers generally, we interviewed them as well. Our findings of the experience of 30 displaced steelworkers in Pittsburgh confirm those in the literature of training program attributes that increase the likelihood of their leading to a job. They include programs that are small scale, linked to the local job market, and focus on developing analytical skills. Two other key components perhaps helping account for the retraining success were assessment and auditing. Entrance into the training program required an intensive screening or assessment process to ensure that (1) the program was right for them, and (2), more importantly, they were capable of handling and grasping the content of the training. Helping displaced workers with tuition payments at a community college also has merit.

Data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics indicate that persons initially with low income, but who work full time, remain in good health, and receive more education exhibit upward earnings mobility; the picture is quite the opposite, however, for those who do not work or who start out at the lowest end of the income scale.

Employment trends by industry and occupation suggest that offshoring in the information technology sector occurs, but not to a great extent.

Entrepreneurial activity, which is higher in the United States than in Europe, is important to job growth, but not as important as job expansions in existing firms.

Journal of Regional ScienceVolume 23, Issue 4 p. 479-498 THE BEHAVIOR OF REGIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATES OVER TIME: EFFECTS ON DISPERSION AND NATIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT* Richard B. Tiller, Richard B. Tiller Economists, U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, D.C.Search for more papers by this authorRobert W. Bednarzik, Robert W. Bednarzik Economists, U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, D.C.Search for more papers by this author Richard B. Tiller, Richard B. Tiller Economists, U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, D.C.Search for more papers by this authorRobert W. Bednarzik, Robert W. Bednarzik Economists, U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, D.C.Search for more papers by this author First published: November 1983 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9787.1983.tb01005.xCitations: 8 * The authors are grateful to Joseph Antos, E. E. Liebhafsky, John Bregger, Harvey Hamel, and an anonymous referee for their comments and suggestions. Any errors are, however, our responsibility. Opinions and findings expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume23, Issue4November 1983Pages 479-498 RelatedInformation

Often overshadowed in the current recession by the rise in the jobless rate, the number of persons involuntarily working part time reached record levels in 1982 . As the unemployment level passed 11 million persons, the number of neared the 7 million mark . Many of these persons had their workweeks reduced, with accompanying pay cuts, while others accepted part-time jobs only after unsuccessful searches for full-time work . Unlike the unemployed, those subject to a reduction in hours are not usually entitled to draw unemployment insurance benefits for their lost work time.' During an economic downturn, the number of involuntary part-timers typically rises before unemployment begins to increase, mainly because employers tend to reduce hours of work when possible before laying off employees to minimize the cost of turnover. In recovery periods, when new orders pick up and inventories are rebuilt, firms usually restore the hours of those on shortened workweeks before expanding their work forces . Thus, over the business cycle, changes in the number of persons involuntarily working part time are generally just a few steps ahead of changes in overall unemployment . In 1982, the distribution (annual averages) of involuntary part-timers by reason for part-time work was:

Layoffs are probably the most visible and, thus, the most widely recognized form of unemployment in the United States, as recessionary job cutbacks receive broad coverage in the media . It is, therefore, surprising that little empirical analysis, especially prior to the mid-seventies, was done on this group.' This stems, in part, from the fact that traditional theories of unemployment did not consider a distinction between layoffs and other types of unemployment-permanent separations, quits, and labor force entries and reentries-to be of significant importance . This article discusses the "uniqueness" of persons on layoff as distinguished from those who have been permanently separated from their jobs . Data for each group are available back to 1967, when the "reason for unemployment" was first identified in the Current Population Survey (cps), although they were not tabulated and published separately until 1976 . Using these data, demographic and occupational and industry profiles of persons on layoff and those permanently separated are presented. Also, the cyclical variability in the number of workers on layoff relative to the number permanently separated, together with each group's job search and job change behavior and duration of unemployment, is examined to determine its role in short-

By yearend, joblessness had surged, propelled by cutbacks in housing, auto, and related industries ; employment was back to its year-ago level ; the employment population ratio was at a 4 -year low; and the number of discouraged workers and involuntary part-timers topped previous records