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Labour-Use Efficiency in Tunisian Manufacturing Industries

Author Info

Listed author(s):
  • Haouas, Ilham

    ()

    (Abu Dhabi University)

  • Yagoubi, Mahmoud

    ()

    (University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)

  • Heshmati, Almas

    ()

    (Jönköping University, Sogang University)

Abstract

This paper investigates the process of adjustment in employment. A dynamic model is applied to a panel of six Tunisian manufacturing industries observed over the period 1971–96. The adjustment process is industry and time specific. The adjustment parameter is specified in terms of factors affecting the speed of adjustment. Industries are assumed to adjust their labour inputs towards a desired level of labour-use. A translog labour requirement function is specified in terms of observable variables and is used to model the desired level of labour-use. The labour requirement is specified to be function of wages, output, quasi-fixed capital stock and technology. The empirical results show that in the long run, employment demand responds greatest to value-added, followed by capital stock changes, and least by wages. The speed of adjustment in employment and the degree of labour-use efficiency show large variations among the sectors and over time.

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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 687.

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Length: 25 pages
Date of creation: Jan 2003
Publication status: published in: Review of Middle East Economics and Finance, 2003, 1 (3), 195-214
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp687
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Keywords: dynamics; employment; labour-use efficiency; panel data; Tunisia; speed of adjustment; technical change;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
  • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
  • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
  • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General

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  1. Luca Papi & Alberto Zazzaro, 2000. "How Does the EU Agenda Influence Economies outside the EU? The Case of Tunisia," Development Working Papers 148, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
  2. Subal Kumbhakar & Almas Heshmati & Lennart Hjalmarsson, 2002. "How Fast Do Banks Adjust? A Dynamic Model of Labor-Use with an Application to Swedish Banks," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 79-102, July.
  3. Baltagi, Badi H. & Griffin, James M., 1997. "Pooled estimators vs. their heterogeneous counterparts in the context of dynamic demand for gasoline," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 77(2), pages 303-327, April.
  4. Kumbhakar, Subal C & Hjalmarsson, Lennart, 1995. "Labour-Use Efficiency in Swedish Social Insurance Offices," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(1), pages 33-47, Jan.-Marc.
  5. Fallon, Peter R. & Lucas, Robert E. B., 1993. "Job security regulations and the dynamic demand for industrial labor in India and Zimbabwe," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 241-275, April.
  6. Pindyck, Robert S & Rotemberg, Julio J, 1983. " Dynamic Factor Demands under Rational Expectations," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 85(2), pages 223-238.
  7. Diewert, W E, 1974. "Functional Forms for Revenue and Factor Requirements Functions," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 15(1), pages 119-130, February.
  8. Khalid Sekkat, 1996. "Regional integration among the Maghreb countries and free trade with the European union: a challenge for both sides of the mediterranean," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/7332, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
  9. Kumbhakar, Subal C. & Hjalmarsson, Lennart, 1998. "Relative performance of public and private ownership under yardstick competition: electricity retail distribution," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 97-122, January.
  10. Heshmati, Almas & Ncube, Mkhululi, 1998. "A Flexible Adjustment Model of Employment with Application to Zimbabwe's Manufacturing Industries," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 278, Stockholm School of Economics, revised 15 Aug 2003.
  11. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
  12. Judson, Ruth A. & Owen, Ann L., 1999. "Estimating dynamic panel data models: a guide for macroeconomists," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 9-15, October.
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Cited by:

  1. Jaan Masso & Almas Heshmati, 2004. "The optimality and overuse of labour in Estonian manufacturing enterprises," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 12(4), pages 683-720, December.
  2. Jaffry, Shabbar & Ghulam, Yaseen & Cox, Joe, 2008. "Labour use efficiency in the Indian and Pakistani commercial banks," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 259-293, June.
  3. Shabbar Jaffry & Yaseen Ghulam & Joe Cox, 2006. "Impact of Regulatory Reforms on Labour Efficiency in the Indian and Pakistani Commercial Banks," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 45(4), pages 1085-1102.
  4. Mollick, André Varella, 2009. "Employment Responses of Skilled and Unskilled Workers at Mexican Maquiladoras: The Effects of External Factors," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 1285-1296, July.

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