What hides behind an unemployment rate: Comparing Portuguese and US labor markets

Behind similar unemployment rates in the United States and Portugal hide tw o very different labor markets. Unemployment duration is three times longer in Portugal than in the United States. Symmetrically, flows of workers int o unemployment are three times lower in Portugal. These lower flows come in roughly equal proportions from lower job creation and destruction, and fro m lower worker flows given job creation and destruction. A plausible explan ation is high employment protection in Portugal. High employment protection makes economies more sclerotic: but because it affects unemployment durati on and worker flows in opposite directions, the effect on unemployment is a mbiguous.