However, the Beveridge curve can shift out for a variety of reasons, including some that are essentially cyclical in nature, so it is important to understand the sources of a shift to assess whether it represents persistent structural forces. There is some evidence suggesting that structural factors account for a portion of the Beveridge curve’s outward shift.
In particular, the shift may partly reflect a decline in the efficiency with which unemployed workers are matched to vacant jobs. 14 However, given that the apparent decline in matching efficiency coincided with a large reduction in job vacancies, the two developments may be related.