The determinants of urban (un)employment duration: evidence from Barcelona

This paper analyses the determinants of employment and unemployment spells in an urban area. Using data from a random sample of labour force participants in Barcelona, we find that individual, firm, regulatory and macroeconomic factors all affect urban (un)employment duration to a certain degree. Also, national and urban (un)employment exhibits the same shape in the baseline hazards and has similar macroeconomic and regulatory drivers, being the individuals’ characteristics the main source of difference we can identify. Consistent with the matching theory, the predicted hazards indicate that the likelihood of finding a job and of being fired is higher and lower, respectively, in the city of Barcelona than in an average Spanish location.