High levels of long-term unemployment (LTU) are a concern throughout Europe. The unemployment rate in the European Union reached its peak in 2013 and has been falling since then. And yet, by 2015 as many as 11 million unemployed people had been actively seeking employment for at least one year. Tackling LTU requires an understanding of its causes.
Are there new answers to old questions? A new eBook edited by Samuel Bentolila and Marcel Jansen titled „Long-term unemployment after the Great Recession: Causes and remedies” examines patterns of long-term unemployment across key European countries and asks what measures have proven effective in helping people back into work and what more can be done.
IBS economists Iga Magda and Piotr Lewandowski have contributed to this eBook with the chapter describing long-term unemployment in Poland. They argue that although the long-term unemployment has declined in Poland, it is still a serious issue which is unfortunately not addressed adequately by public policies. The eBook can be found at: www.voxeu.org.