Moving from unemployment to permanent eployment: Could a casual job accelerate the transition?

Abstract

This study uses longitudinal data from the Survey of Employment and Unemployment Patterns (1994-1997) to examine whether casual work can shorten the time taken to move from unemployment into permanent work. The analysis compares the transition rate from unemployment to permanent work with the combined transition rates of unemployment to casual work and casual work to permanent work. The hazard rate model controls for individual observed characteristics and unobserved heterogeneity, while allowing for correlation between the transition rates to counter potential selection bias. The evidence suggests that disadvantaged unemployed job seekers could benefit from accepting casual work in their se..