A Template for Analyzing and Projecting Labor Market Indicators

Author/Editor:

Ralph Chami

Publication Date:

September 27, 2012

Electronic Access:

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Disclaimer: This Technical Guidance Note should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF. The views expressed in this Note are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary:

This note is a reference guide for the unemployment template, an econometric tool that allows researchers to analyze and project labor market indicators for any country with sufficient data coverage. Section I explains the motivation behind designing a new surveillance tool to study labor markets, and summarizes the key features of the template. Section II details the data inputs needed and their sources. Section III describes the methods used to estimate the employment-growth elasticity, a measure of the extent to which employment responds to output. Section IV outlines the medium-term outlook table and projection charts created by the template once the inputs are customized to generate an appropriate elasticity. Finally, Section V presents a discussion on how to interpret the results produced by the template, and of the issues that arise from projecting labor market indicators.

Series:

Technical Notes and Manuals No. 2012/001

Subject:

Notes:

Full text also available in Arabic, French, and Russian.

English

Publication Date:

September 27, 2012

ISBN/ISSN:

9781475522051/2075-8669

Stock No:

TNMEA2012001

Pages:

18

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