The Informational Value of Job Search Data and the Dynamics of Search Behaviour: Evidence from Hungary

Labour market analysis places much emphasis on the concept of search. But there is insufficient empirical information on (a) the relationship between reported search and job-finding and (b) how search behaviour changes over a spell without work. We investigate these issues using a sample constructed from Hungarian labour force survey panel data of the flow from jobs to the state of " joblessness ". The results on job exits call into question aspects of the standard international classification of " unemployment " and " out of the labour force ". Transitions during joblessness in and out of search and the various categories of non-search are found to be only modest.