Determinants of unemployment duration in Ukraine

There are few studies of unemployment duration in transition economies, including members of the CIS. This paper presents the first evidence of the determinants of unemployment duration in Ukraine. We examine the effects of various individual characteristics and local demand conditions on the hazards to employment or inactivity using multiple unemployment spell data from the Ukrainian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (ULMS) for the years 1998-2002 and estimating the Cox proportional hazards model with two competing risks. The main estimated results are generally similar to those obtained in developed and other transition countries. The individual's age, marital status, level of education, income while unemployed (including income from casual work activities and subsistence farming), and local demand constraints are significantly related to the total time in unemployment. The estimates of the baseline hazard to employment suggest marked negative duration dependence after 14 months in unemployment. Journal of Comparative Economics 34 (2) (2006) 228-247.