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Do labour market reforms reduce the output growth threshold of Okun's law? An analysis for OECD countries

Author

Listed:
  • Raul Ramos

    (AQR-IREA, Universitat de Barcelona)

  • Esteban Sanromá

    (Universitat de Barcelona, IEB)

  • Runhan Ye

    (Universitat de Barcelona)

Abstract

Reducing unemployment is still a priority for many governments. The objective of this paper is to analyse whether labour market reforms have succeeded in lowering the level of output growth required to reduce unemployment. With this aim, we estimate time-varying thresholds based on a first-difference version of Okun's law for 25 countries and, then we analyse whether 32 labour reforms have contributed to reducing thresholds. The results show a high heterogeneity of thresholds among countries, but also that thresholds have shown a clear decreasing trend, mainly due to the evolution of the labour force and productivity in these countries. We also find that in 21 of the 32 considered labour market reforms, they have been effective in reducing the value of the threshold. Both results are clearly relevant from a policy perspective.

Suggested Citation

  • Raul Ramos & Esteban Sanromá & Runhan Ye, 2025. "Do labour market reforms reduce the output growth threshold of Okun's law? An analysis for OECD countries," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 45(1), pages 473-484.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-24-00487
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sandrine Cazes & Sher Verick & Fares Al Hussami, 2013. "Why did unemployment respond so differently to the global financial crisis across countries? Insights from Okun’s Law," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-18, December.
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    6. Rasmus Wiese & João Tovar Jalles & Jakob de Haan, 2024. "Structural reforms and income distribution: new evidence for OECD countries," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 76(4), pages 1071-1088.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labour market reforms; Okun's law; output growth threshold to reduce unemployment; OECD countries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E2 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment
    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers

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