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Spatial Patterns of German Labor Market: Panel Data Analysis of Regional Unemployment

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Geographical Labor Market Imbalances

Part of the book series: AIEL Series in Labour Economics ((AIEL))

Abstract

This chapter is devoted to the investigation of spatial spillover effects of the regional unemployment in Germany. Due to historical reasons, the differences between eastern and western regions of Germany persist over time. We explore the differences in the determinants of the regional unemployment as well as the differences in spatial effects by estimating spatial models. We use panel data for 407 out of 413 German regions (using the NUTS III regional structure) for 2001 through 2009. In order to account for possible spatial interactions between regions, we use a spatial weighting matrix of inverse distances. We estimate static and dynamic models by the maximum likelihood estimation approach, developed by Anselin (Spatial econometrics: Methods and models, Berlin: Springer, 1988) specifically for spatial models and elaborated by Lee and Yu (Journal of Econometrics, 154, 165–185, 2010a; Regional Science and Urban Economics, 40, 255–271, 2010b). We reveal that the unemployment in western regions is more of disequilibrium nature, while the unemployment in eastern regions is more of equilibrium nature. Using System GMM approach, we estimate the extended specification of the dynamic model and find that the unemployment in eastern regions affects both the unemployment in western and eastern regions of Germany, whereas the unemployment in western regions has an impact only on other western regions.

JEL classification C21, C23, R1

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Annektarin Neihbuhr and Franziska Lottmann for their help in the data collection process. I also thank Bernd Droge, Olga Demidova, Grigory Kantorovich, Emil Ershov and the anonymous referee for helpful tips and comments on this chapter.

This research was supported by Marie Curie International Research Staff Exchange Scheme Fellowship Community Framework Program under the Project IRSES GA-2010-269134 and by the Russian Federation Government under Grant No. 11.G34.31.0059.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE), Moscow, Russia

    Elena Semerikova

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  1. Elena Semerikova
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Correspondence to Elena Semerikova .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza, Italy

    Chiara Mussida

  2. Department of Law, Seconda Università di Napoli, Santa Maria Capua Vetere, Italy

    Francesco Pastore

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 3.6, 3.7, 3.8 and 3.9.

Table 3.6 Unemployment in East Germany
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Table 3.7 Unemployment in West Germany
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Table 3.8 SAC and SAR models for West
Full size table
Table 3.9 SAC and SAR models for East
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Semerikova, E. (2015). Spatial Patterns of German Labor Market: Panel Data Analysis of Regional Unemployment. In: Mussida, C., Pastore, F. (eds) Geographical Labor Market Imbalances. AIEL Series in Labour Economics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55203-8_3

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