Low-skill workers are comparatively immobile. This paper estimates the role of housing prices and social transfers in accounting for this fact using a spatial equilibrium model. Reduced-form estimates using US census data show that positive local labor demand shocks increase population more than negative shocks reduce population, that this asymmetry is larger for low-skill workers, and that such an asymmetry is absent for average wages, housing values, and rental prices. Generalized method of moments estimates reveal that the comparative immobility of low-skill workers is due not to higher mobility costs but to a lower incidence of adverse labor demand shocks.

We compare patterns of unemployment between Canada and the United States during the Great Recession. We document a rise in long-term unemployment in Canada, similar to findings in earlier work. We consider an extended matching model using restricted-access data from the Canadian Labour Force Survey, which contains information on time since last job for both unemployed and nonparticipants. We create a new historical vacancy series for Canada based on relative employment in “recruiting industries” to construct a monthly Beveridge curve for Canada. Allowing for duration dependence in flows between unemployment and nonparticipation is crucial for explaining long-term joblessness.

We explore the role of composition, duration dependence, and labor force nonparticipation in accounting for the sharp increase in the incidence of long-term unemployment (LTU) during the Great Recession. We show that compositional shifts account for very little of the observed increase in LTU. Using panel data from the Current Population Survey for 2002–7, we calibrate a matching model that allows for duration dependence in unemployment and transitions between employment, unemployment, and nonparticipation. The calibrated model accounts for almost all of the increase in LTU and much of the observed outward shift in the Beveridge curve between 2008 and 2013.