Nonstandard Forms and Measures of Employment
and Unemployment in Transition:
A Comparative Study of Estonia, Romania, and Russia

Upjohn Institute Working Paper 06-127


J. David Brown, Heriot-Watt University, CEU Labor Project, IZA

John S. Earle, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and CEU Labor Project
e-mail: earle@upjohninstitute.org

Vladimir Gimpelson, CLMS, Higher School of Economics, IZA

Rostislav Kapeliushnikov, CLMS, Higher School of Economics

Hartmut Lehmann, University of Bologna; Heriot-Watt University, Labor Group EROC,
Kiev School of Economics, IZA

Álmos Telegdy, CEU Labor Project, Institute of Economics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Irina Vantu, CEU Labor Project

Ruxandra Visan, CEU Labor Project

Alexandru Voicu, City University of New York, Staten Island College, IZA


Revised June 2006

JEL Classification Code: J21

Abstract
This paper looks behind the standard, publicly available labor force statistics relied upon in most studies of transition economy labor markets. We analyze microdata on detailed labor force survey responses in Russia, Romania, and Estonia to measure nonstandard, boundary forms and alternative definitions of employment and unemployment. Our calculations show that measured rates are quite sensitive to definition, particularly in the treatment of household production (subsistence agriculture), unpaid family helpers, and discouraged workers, while the categories of part-time work and other forms of marginal attachment are still relatively unimportant. We find that tweaking the official definitions in apparently minor ways can produce alternative employment rates that are sharply higher in Russia but much lower in Romania and slightly lower in Estonia, and alternative unemployment rates that are sharply higher in Romania and moderately higher in Estonia and Russia.

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