In this paper I study how individual unemployment durations vary over the b
usiness cycle, using unemployment spells of a sample of Danish workers. A c
ompositional, an outflow, and a residual calendar-time component are identi
fied, and they all contribute to explaining the variations in unemployment
duration. Based on the analysis it is concluded that long-term unemployment
is a phenomenon that is associated with periods of high unemployment, but
nothing should prevent the long-term unemployed finding jobs again as aggre
gate unemployment eventually starts falling. In particular, there is no evi
dence of negative duration dependence, not even at long durations, and not
when aggregate unemployment is high.