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Employment regulations through the eyes of employers - do they matter and how do firms respond to them?

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Author Info
Pierre, Gaelle
Scarpetta, Stefano

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Abstract

The authors present evidence on how employers perceive labor regulations and react when these are perceived to constrain the operation of their firm. They draw from harmonized surveys of (up to) 17,000 firms around the world and compare employers'responses with actual labor legislation. The authors find that employers'concerns about labor regulations are closely matched by the relative stringency of de jure labor laws. Countries that have, from an international perspective, tight labor regulations tend to have higher proportions of employers reporting these regulations as severe constraints. But not all firms are affected in the same way by onerous labor regulations. Medium sized firms are those whose business and prospects for growth are most negatively affected. Similarly, innovating firms are disproportionally affected by tight labor regulations. There is also clear evidence in the data that firms facing tight regulations invest more in training and make greater use of temporary employment. Small firms mainly rely on temporary employment, while medium and large firms, as well as innovating firms, tend to rely more on on-the-job training if labor regulations make hiring and firing very costly.

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Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 3463.

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Date of creation: 01 Dec 2004
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Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3463

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Related research
Keywords: Health Monitoring&Evaluation; Environmental Economics&Policies; Public Health Promotion; Labor Policies; Labor Management and Relations; Environmental Economics&Policies; Labor Management and Relations; Health Monitoring&Evaluation; Labor Standards; Banks&Banking Reform;

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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  2. Bertola, Giuseppe, 1990. "Job security, employment and wages," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 851-879, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
  4. Maury Gittleman & Michael Horrigan & Mary Joyce, 1998. "Flexible workplace practices: Evidence from a nationally representative survey," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 52(1), pages 99-115, October.
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  6. Di Tella, Rafael & MacCulloch, Robert, 2005. "The consequences of labor market flexibility: Panel evidence based on survey data," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(5), pages 1225-1259, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. John T. Addison & Paulino Teixeira, 2003. "The Economics of Employment Protection," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 24(1), pages 85-129, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Hopenhayn, Hugo & Rogerson, Richard, 1993. "Job Turnover and Policy Evaluation: A General Equilibrium Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(5), pages 915-38, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Bentolila, Samuel & Bertola, Giuseppe, 1990. "Firing Costs and Labour Demand: How Bad Is Eurosclerosis?," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 57(3), pages 381-402, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Moulton, Brent R, 1990. "An Illustration of a Pitfall in Estimating the Effects of Aggregate Variables on Micro Unit," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 72(2), pages 334-38, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Boeri, Tito, 1999. "Enforcement of employment security regulations, on-the-job search and unemployment duration," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 65-89, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  17. O Blanchard & A Landier, 2002. "The Perverse Effects of Partial Labour Market Reform: fixed--Term Contracts in France," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(480), pages F214-F244, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Juan J Dolado & Carlos Garcia--Serrano & Juan F. Jimeno, 2002. "Drawing Lessons From The Boom Of Temporary Jobs In Spain," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(721), pages F270-F295, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  19. Peter Cappelli, 2000. "Examining the Incidence of Downsizing and Its Effect on Establishment Performance," NBER Working Papers 7742, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Olivier Blanchard & Pedro Portugal, 2001. "What Hides Behind an Unemployment Rate: Comparing Portuguese and U.S. Labor Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(1), pages 187-207, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Blanchard, Olivier & Wolfers, Justin, 2000. "The Role of Shocks and Institutions in the Rise of European Unemployment: The Aggregate Evidence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(462), pages C1-33, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  22. Ichino, Andrea & Polo, Michele & Rettore, Enrico, 2003. "Are judges biased by labor market conditions?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(5), pages 913-944, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  23. Nickell, Stephen, 1997. "Unemployment and Labor Market Rigidities: Europe versus North America," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 55-74, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  24. Boeri, Tito & Burda, Michael C., 2004. "Preferences for Rigid versus Individualized Wage Setting in Search Economies with Frictions," IZA Discussion Papers 1133, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  25. Alvarez, Fernando & Veracierto, Marcelo, 2001. "Severance payments in an economy with frictions," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 477-498, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  26. Daron Acemoglu & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 1998. "Why Do Firms Train? Theory And Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 113(1), pages 78-118, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  27. Hugo Hopenhayn, 2004. "Labor Market Policies and Employment Duration. The Effects of Labor Market Reform in Argentina," NBER Chapters, in: Law and Employment: Lessons from Latin American and the Caribbean, pages 497-516 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  28. Tito Boeri & Juan F. Jimeno, . "The Effects of Employment Protection: Learning from Variable Enforcement," Working Papers 2003-12, FEDEA. [Downloadable!]
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  29. Timothy Besley & Robin Burgess, 2004. "Can Labor Regulation Hinder Economic Performance? Evidence from India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 119(1), pages 91-134, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Clark, Andrew E & Postel-Vinay, Fabien, 2005. "Job Security and Job Protection," CEPR Discussion Papers 4927, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Felipe Balmaceda, 2008. "Firm-Provided Training and Labor Market Policies," Documentos de Trabajo 252, Centro de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Chile. [Downloadable!]
  3. Markus Poschke, 2007. "Employment Protection, Firm Selection, and Growth," IZA Discussion Papers 3164, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Janine Berg & Sandrine Cazes, 2007. "The Doing Business Indicators: Measurement issues and political implications," Economic and Labour Market Papers 2007-06, International Labour Office. [Downloadable!]
  5. Kaplan, David S., 2008. "Job creation and labor reform in Latin America," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4708, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Fox, Louise & Oviedo, Ana Maria, 2008. "Institutions and labor market outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4721, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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