Unemployment Exits Before and During the Crisis

Using administrative data from Spain, we compare the pattern and the determinants of individual unemployment durations and the stability of jobs found after unemployment before and during the recent crisis. We find particularly strong effects of the crisis on the hazards in the beginning of the unemployment spell. The groups hit hardest by the crisis are men, immigrants, older workers, and low‐educated individuals. The disadvantage of men is mainly due to the more pro‐cyclical nature of men's jobs. The increase in average unemployment duration and the fall in the duration of new jobs are not explained by composition effects.