Essays on labor market

Employment agency industry and economic environment. This paper reports an empirical investigation into employment agency industry. It uses state level data to explore the relationship between activity of employment agencies and aggregate state economic environment. The paper identifies a robust employment agency industry and future economic performance at the state level. The paper reports evidence that employment agencies' activity is positively impacted by the aggregate economic activity and level of employment at the state level, and negatively impacted by the level of unemployment at the state level.; Unemployment insurance and capital market return. In this chapter, I will examine the effects of unemployment insurance on the risk-free rate of return in capital markets. This paper conducts an empirical test based on the theoretical hypothesis developed by Bianconi (2006). Bianconi (2006) argued that "in countries where unemployment insurance is generous capital markets should have low usage and the risk-free rate of return is low while in countries where unemployment insurance is less generous, capital markets should have more usage and the risk-free rate of return is higher". My empirical tests provide some evidence in favor of this hypothesis.