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In this paper, we investigate the behaviour of the Australian state labour markets, focusing on the role of geographic labour mobility. We find that interstate migration does play an important role in reducing differences in labour market conditions between states, although permanent (or very persistent) differences between state unemployment rates remain. We also find that out‐migration from a state resulting from a relative downturn in its labour market occurs slowly and steadily. Most of the migration takes place, on average, within four years, and the process of adjustment is complete after seven years.

This article provides an assessment of labour market adjustments occurring in Estonia during the global crisis. As part of the so-called internal devaluation, the strategy followed was very successful in shrinking the unit labour costs, thus helping Estonian enterprises to gain international competitiveness. The whole gamut of tools available in terms of flexibility was used, at least in the worst time of the financial crisis: massive lay-offs, reduced working time and wage cuts. At mid-2011, Estonia stood as one of the most dynamic EU country to recover with exports growth. On the social side, however, the track record is not as positive: the purchasing power of workers has been reduced and unemployment still remains strong and persistent despite the economic recovery.

This paper analyzes the evolution of regional unemployment rates, wages, participation rates, migration and employment in seven candidate countries for accession to the European Union (EU) in the 1990's. We compare these countries to a core set of EU member states and find persistent regional disparities in both regions. However, persistence of unemployment rates is lower in the first-round candidate countries than in the member states. Furthermore, in both first-round and second-round candidate countries, persistence in participation rates is lower. Migration seems to be an ineffective labor market adjustment mechanism. Wages react more strongly to regional unemployment developments in first-round candidate countries than in member states but they are slightly less responsive to national unemployment.