Essays on employment and unemployment transitions

This thesis addresses relevant questions related to labour market transitions in Spain. Using administrative records data from Spanish Social Security and applying correlated competing risks models, the impact of the current recession on unemployment and employment transitions and gender differences in labour market outcomes are studied. The Spanish labour market is characterized by high labour turnover (particularly, to other jobs in the expansion period and to unemployment in the recession), occupational segregation by gender and different returns to the characteristics by gender. During the current recession, both the unemployment duration and the inflows into unemployment have increased and the wages have declined, especially for men (reducing the gender gaps), young and older workers, immigrants and those with low level of qualification. High level of qualification, working in larger firms and high technology sector are associated with lower unemployment and better job quality. As a consequence, the Spanish labour market requires important reforms to attain the objectives of Europe 2020.