Unemployment and Its Determinants
Unemployment and Its Determinants
RESEARCH PARK
IJEFSD
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Keywords:
macroeconomic
indicators,unemploy
ment issue,
methodology, data
description, prior
expectations
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON ECONOMICS, FINANCE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ISSN (electronic): 2620-6269/ ISSN (printed): 2615-4021
One of the major macroeconomic indicators of the country, which essence signifies the vital aspect of
the whole population, is unemployment. It poses significant challenges for all countries since
employment stands as one of the key determinants for economic growth. To be precise, employment
provides the means for living for all people to sustain not only their social but economic and political
well-being as well. Therefore, it is a subject of great importance for states to maintain low
unemployment rates, and those of the great authority should contribute to the establishment of policies
regarding the development of the unemployment indicator. To achieve any progress in the respective
area, firstly, the main factors affecting unemployment should be identified. Therefore, the purpose of
this research is to identify the determinants of unemployment in the selected country of China, and
based on the results, provide policy recommendations.
Literature review
Given the attention and importance the unemployment issue receives in today’s world, many studies
tried to identify unemployment’s explanatory variables. Different researchers approached different
frameworks on the obtainment of the results. To be precise, some used macroeconomic determinants
and evaluated their effect on unemployment. Other experts took into account individuals’ characteristics
and their chances of being employed.
Arslan (2014) in his study examined the unemployment rate and its tendency of change on the
macroeconomic variables, such as inflation, GDP and population growths, and FDI, in Pakistan
throughout 1999 and 2010. The method for obtaining the corresponding relationships was OLS
regression. Arslan (2014) established the significant effect of FDI, GDP, and population growths on
unemployment. The inflation rate was identified as a non-significant variable for the dependent
variable. The respective relationships for significant determinants were in accordance with the major
economic theories. To be precise, FDI and GDP possessed inverse linkage with unemployment, while
population growth had a direct relationship (Arslan, 2014).
Maqbool et al. (2013) conducted similar to Arslan's (2014) research that studied the relationship of
various macroeconomic indicators, such as population growth, GDP, FDI, inflation, and external debt,
on the unemployment in Pakistan between 1976 and 2012. The results of the research suggested
significant negative relationships of GDP, FDI, and inflation and a significant positive relationship
between population growth on unemployment. Thereby, external debt was identified as a non-
significant explanatory variable of unemployment. In contrast to the mentioned study by Arslan (2014),
the results of a more recent study of unemployment in Pakistan provided the significance of inflation in
the determination of unemployment. The results were also in accordance with the economic theses
(Maqbool et al., 2013).
Mushfiqul (2020) studied the effect of macroeconomic variables on unemployment in Bangladesh using
time-series data between 1991 and 2018. Since the obtained data for variables were not stationary,
vector regression was applied in the study to estimate the respective effects. In the research, gross
domestic product (GDP), inflation, and foreign direct investment (FDI) were taken as explanatory
determinants. The results of the study showed the positive significant relationship of GDP on
unemployment, the negative insignificant effect of inflation on the dependent variable, and the positive
significant impact of FDI on unemployment. The obtained relationships for GDP and FDI contradict the
economic theories on their effect on unemployment (Mushfiqul, 2020).
Eita (2010) investigated the determinants of unemployment in Namibia from the macroeconomic
perspective, taking real wages, total investment, inflation, and productivity gap as explanatory
indicators of unemployment. The corresponding estimates were in accordance with the yearly data
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between 1971 and 2007. It was established by Eita (2010) that: a rise in income increases
unemployment; there is an inverse significant effect between inflation and unemployment; with the
capital increase follows the reduction in unemployment; there is an increase in unemployment when
productivity difference rises. The estimated relationships followed the economic theories and the results
of previous similar studies (Eita, 2010).
In contrast to other studies, Kingdon and Knight (2001) researched what factors determine the
probability of being employed in South Africa based on individuals’ and household’s characteristics.
Due to the complexity of the research question, the method of obtaining data for variables was the
distribution of household-level questionnaires. It was established in the study that the major factors
affecting the likelihood of employment are the educational attainment of an individual and their
previous experience in the world of work. The obtained results also suggested that unemployment is
dependent on other factors, such as place of residence, gender, race, etc. (Kingdon and Knight, 2001).
Methodology, data description, and prior expectations
The next macroeconomic indicators were selected for the regression model to establish their effect on
the unemployment rate in the chosen country of China:
UR = β0 + β1*PG + β2*REM + β3*nGDP + β4*CPI
“UR” stands for the unemployment rate, which is a dependent variable expressed in the percentage
form. The unemployment rate is defined as the share of total workers that are without a job but are
willing to work.
“PG” stands for the population growth of the country, which is an explanatory variable of
unemployment expressed in percentage form. Population growth refers to the change in total population
over the period, which can be attributed to the prevalence of fertility over mortality or even migration of
the population. As the economic theory and other studies mentioned in the literature review suggest,
there is an expectation of this variable to possess a positive linkage with unemployment.
“REM” represents remittance inflow to the country, which is an independent variable measured in the
natural logarithm. Remittances in the model refer to any funds reception to the population of one
country from abroad. Although the mentioned studies did not estimate the effect of remittances on the
unemployment rate, it is believed that remittances possess a direct relationship to unemployment. The
reason behind such assumption is that additional funds received by the country’s residents may change
their attitude towards their working time and, consequently, substitute it with leisure time. Therefore,
resulting in the rise of the unemployment rate.
“nGDP” represents the nominal gross domestic product, which is an independent explanatory variable
expressed in the natural logarithm. Nominal GDP refers to the combined value of total products
manufactured by local producers in one year, and not considering the inflation effect. The growth of
GDP is highly associated with the creation of new jobs. Therefore, there is an expectation of GDP to
have a negative effect on the dependent variable of unemployment. The economic theory that depicts
the inverse relationship between unemployment and GDP is referred to as Okun’s Law.
“CPI” refers to the inflation rate, which is an independent variable measured in percentages. The
inflation rate represents an annual percentage difference in the prices over some time. According to the
Phillips Curve, which establishes the connection between inflation and unemployment, it is expected
that there is a negative linkage between inflation and the unemployment rate.
All data estimates for corresponding independent and dependent variables were acquired from the
World Bank Open Data. The established regression model for the unemployment determinants of China
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is in accordance with the yearly data between 1991 and 2019. Hence, there is the total of 29
observations. The reason for such a relatively small number of observations is the data unavailability for
the unemployment estimates before 1991.
Table 1.
The obtained findings of the regression model are provided in Table 1. Therefore, we can now estimate
the fitted model of unemployment determinants with respect of their significance:
UR = 9.781 – 2.85505*PG – 0.274*nGDP + 0.18255*REM
According to table 1, population growth possesses an inverse significant relationship with the
unemployment rate. To be precise, 1 percent growth in the total population would reduce the
unemployment rate by 2.85505 percent, holding all other variables equal. The results of the effect of
population growth on unemployment are inconsistent with the economic theory and findings of Arslan
(2014) and Maqbool et al. (2013).
As Table 1 suggests, the coefficient for nominal gross domestic product is negative and statistically
significant. It is established that a 1 percentage increase in the nominal GDP would decrease
unemployment by 0.00274 percent with the ceteris paribus effect. The obtained negative linkage is in
line with the economic theory and the findings of Maqbool et al. (2013) and partly with the study of
Arslan (2014), where the researcher considered the GDP growth as the explanatory variable of
unemployment.
Table 1 presents a statistically significant and positive relationship of received remittances on the
unemployment rate. The results suggest that a 1 percentage increase in the remittances inflow for the
country is associated with the 0.0018255 percentage rise in the rate of unemployment. The positive
effect for the variable of remittances is in accordance with the prior expectation of a direct relationship
between independent and dependent variables.
Inflation is identified as the statistically insignificant determinant of the unemployment rate and
therefore not included in the fitted model. The result of significance is consistent with the findings of
Arslan (2014) and Mushfiqul (2020), but not in accordance with the studies of Maqbool et al. (2013)
and Eita (2010). However, the negative relationship is supported by the Philips Curve and the studies of
Copyright (c) 2023 Author (s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of E-mail address: [email protected]
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON ECONOMICS, FINANCE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ISSN (electronic): 2620-6269/ ISSN (printed): 2615-4021
Copyright (c) 2023 Author (s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of E-mail address: [email protected]
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON ECONOMICS, FINANCE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ISSN (electronic): 2620-6269/ ISSN (printed): 2615-4021
Normality test
Shapiro-Wilk W test for normal data
chi2(1) = 1.01
Prob > chi2 = 0.3137
Multicollinearity test
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Copyright (c) 2023 Author (s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of E-mail address: [email protected]
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Copyright (c) 2023 Author (s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of E-mail address: [email protected]
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