An Investigation of the Hysteresis in Unemployment in EU Countries and Turkey with Fourier-KPSS Unit Root Test

The changes in the unemployment rate and its hysteria in some EU countries impose significant challengesto policy makers. To implement appropriate policies, it is important to examine whether the movement of the unemployment rates in the country is better corresponded by the unemployment hysteresis or by the natural rate hypothesis of unemployment. Therefore, this study examines the hysteresis effects in unemployment using panel data for European Union countries and Turkey for the period of 1991–2016. For the test we utilize Fourier- KPSS panel stationarity test which takes into account structural shifts and cross-section dependency proposed by Nazlioglu and Karul (2017). The results reveal that unemployment hysteresis hypothesis cannot be rejected for the EU countries and Turkey except for Latvia, Belgium, Cyprus and Sweden.