How segmented are skilled and unskilled labour markets: the case of beveridge curves.

*This paper was funded by a grant from the ARC. Thanks are due to Duy Tien Tran for assisting with the data collection, and Nilss Olekalns, Guyonne Kalb, Paul Frijters, Daniel Hamermesh, Richard Jackman and John Creedy and participants at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research Conference on Unemployment August 2001 for useful comments. Views expressed represent those of the authors. All errors remain the responsibility of the authors.This paper tests whether there is empirical evidence that two distinct Beveridge curves for the skilled and unskilled aggregate markets. The results support the dualism hypothesis and specifically find that the skilled labour segment is more efficient at matching workers with jobs and/or has lower turnover rates. Lower turnover rates may be indicative of a better prior match. It also found that other shift variables, such as the replacement rate, the incidence of long-term unemployment, the immigration rate and the market circumstances in the other segment, had differential effects on each curv