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great stuff and great reading! Thanks. I have a question though and this might blow the complexity of this diary completely out of proportion - could we have another country as comparison? (Only if this is not to much work,  really)
For me that might further underline one of the findings (for me at least) that unemployment figures are not really comparable from country to country, as there are so many factors that have to be considered (University fees, f.e - aprentiship scemes, etc...)

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It would also be interesting to see, if some mechanism, data gathering formula could be developed that takes all these factors into account?

by PeWi on Fri Nov 30th, 2007 at 09:10:03 AM EST
We could bring in other countries. There are two sources of international "comparative" data, the OECD and Eurostat's EU Labour Force Survey. Only the OECD includes the US.

In order to dig around as I have done (finding part-time student jobs, for example, stats on which are not always readily available), you need to use the national statistical agencies and ministry stats (education for example), as well as discussion in articles, reports, surveys, etc. I can only do that with any degree of efficiency in English and French. So the project would have to become collective..?

As to whether some killer algorithm could take all the complexities into account and come up with perfectly comparable measures... Well, aren't economists always trying to do this kind of thing and failing?

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Fri Nov 30th, 2007 at 09:32:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]
... speaking, suggesting Canada, Belgium, Australia and New Zealand as candidates.


I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Sat Dec 1st, 2007 at 10:58:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Just a thought: what about a Nordic 'average' for comparison?  

Norwegian government statistics are available in English...guess the same goes for the other Nordic countries.

by Solveig (link2ageataol.com) on Sat Dec 1st, 2007 at 12:39:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]
... is a different species of the same concern I had in my head about Australia when I wrote the above ... which is the primary non-renewable resource exports and what role that plays in the economy in current conditions ... which might argue for Sweden or New Zealand.


I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Sat Dec 1st, 2007 at 03:42:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Not sure I understand what you mean here...?
by Solveig (link2ageataol.com) on Sat Dec 1st, 2007 at 05:38:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Australia has been going through a commodity export boom, and while I presume Norway's volume of oil exports are declining, that would be buffered to a certain extent by rising crude oil producers ...

... and I'd guess that even among high income countries, primary resource exporters seem likely to have a distinctive set of employment challenges and opportunities. They certainly do among low-income nations.

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Sat Dec 1st, 2007 at 06:42:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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