Estimation and characteristics of unemployment duration in Bolivia

An economy’s unemployment is considered as the most widely used synthetic indicator to describe a labor market; however, it does not give enough information about its dynamics. This study provides a complementary analysis of the labor market’s dynamics through the estimation of complete unemployment duration and an adequate methodological approach to the availability of information in Bolivia through the use of parametric and non-parametric models that allow a description of the behavior of unemployment’s duration in relation to the sociodemographic features of the population. The results show that it is necessary to correct biases in available data, given that they cause an over-estimation of the unemployment duration. For that purpose, the method of Corak and Heis was used. In the country, in recent years, unemployment duration has been relatively low, although there are certain vulnerable groups that experience long periods of job search, such as women and older people. The relationship between unemployment duration and technical education and geographic area are also explored. Finally, the need of explicitly including informality, underemployment and other variables in the analysis is also pointed out.