Alex, you might be interested in Lang, Siniver, 2011[1].
What is interesting in this particular study how quickly the market acquires the information.
So, if the unemployment is a global phenomenon across many different markets, in the same civilisation, it is possible that it changed somewhat permanently.
"Our results are therefore consistent with the view that employers use education information to screen workers but that the market acquires information fairly rapidly."
I'm potentially interested in reading this but I have to ask, are they measuring the acquisition of information by changes in employment status and salary? Because if so this seems like begging the question.
What is interesting in this particular study how quickly the market acquires the information.
So, if the unemployment is a global phenomenon across many different markets, in the same civilisation, it is possible that it changed somewhat permanently.
(just an idea; I'm not fully convinced as well)
[1]. http://papers.nber.org/papers/w16730