Persistent and high local unemployment is a major problem all over the world. In transition processes regions develop diversely, resulting in increasing unemployment in some regions and decreasing in others. In neoclassical theory, this will even out over time, due to wage differentials and mobility. In real life, however, regional differences often remain due to, among other things, the housing market offsetting mobility.
The aim of this project was to analyse and compare persistent unemployment on local labour markets in Scandinavia and post-socialist countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) from different perspectives. Five workshops took place in Malmö (Sweden), Bratislava (Slovakia), Split (Croatia), Belgrade (Serbia), and Haugesund (Norway). The papers from the project have been published in the book Investigating spatial inequalities: Mobility, housing and employment in Scandinavia and South-East Europe, with Helena Bohman and Peter Håkansson as editors.