What does this shift in the Beveridge curve relationship mean? In a literal sense, it means that for a certain unemployment rate (on the horizontal axis), there is a higher rate of job openings (on the vertical axis). To put it another way, employers in the years after 2009 seemed more reluctant to fill their job openings, or as economists say, it appeared to be harder for employers to find a match when they listed a job among the workers who were applying for those jobs. The "matching efficiency" of the US labor market had declined....This means that "transitional unemployment" is increasing. After becoming unemployed, it is taking longer to find a matching job. It also implies that more workers will be less than ideally employed, that is, taking jobs beneath their qualification level, or part-time jobs.
Conversable Economist
What Message is the Beveridge Curve Sending?
Timothy Taylor | Managing editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives, based at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota
