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Complementarities between Labour Market Institutions and their Causal Impact on Youth Labour Market Outcomes

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  • O’Higgins Niall

    (International Labour Office, Route des Morillons, 1211 Geneve 22, Switzerland)

  • Pica Giovanni

    (Università della Svizzera Italiana, Istituto di Economia Politica, Lugano, TI, Switzerland, CSEF and LdA)

Abstract

We analyse theoretically and empirically the effects on young people’s labour market outcomes of two specific labour market institutions and their interaction: employment protection legislation and active labour market policy. The paper examines recent policy reforms in Italy focussing on the impact of the 2012 Fornero reforms of employment protection legislation as well as the initial impact of the EU-wide Youth Guarantee scheme introduced in Italy in March 2014. The paper then examines how these two policy reforms interacted. The analysis first confirms the finding that the Fornero reform increased permanent hires particularly amongst the very youngest workers; it then goes on to find that the YG was indeed successful in increasing the hires of young people, although this operated through a statistically significant increase in female hires on temporary contracts. Third, it finds some evidence of a dampening effect of the YG on EPL reforms as predicted by theory.

Suggested Citation

  • O’Higgins Niall & Pica Giovanni, 2020. "Complementarities between Labour Market Institutions and their Causal Impact on Youth Labour Market Outcomes," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(3), pages 1-37, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:20:y:2020:i:3:p:37:n:8
    DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2018-0165
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    Cited by:

    1. Bratti, Massimiliano & Conti, Maurizio & Sulis, Giovanni, 2019. "Employment Protection and Firm-Provided Training: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from a Labour Market Reform," IZA Discussion Papers 12773, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Giuseppe Grasso & Konstantinos Tatsiramos, 2023. "The Impact of Restricting Fixed-Term Contracts on Labor and Skill Demand," CESifo Working Paper Series 10693, CESifo.
    3. Roberta MONTEBELLO & Jonathan SPITERI & Philip VON BROCKDORFF, 2023. "Trade unions and income inequality: Evidence from a panel of European countries," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 162(3), pages 481-503, September.
    4. Bottasso, Anna & Bratti, Massimiliano & Cardullo, Gabriele & Conti, Maurizio & Sulis, Giovanni, 2023. "Labor Market Regulation and Firm Adjustments in Skill Demand," IZA Discussion Papers 16262, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Ruggero Cefalo & Rosario Scandurra & Yuri Kazepov, 2020. "Youth Labor Market Integration in European Regions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-18, May.
    6. Bratti, Massimiliano & Conti, Maurizio & Sulis, Giovanni, 2021. "Employment protection and firm-provided training in dual labour markets," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    youth employment; job search; ALMPs; EPL;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy

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