Cumulative (Dis)advantage? The Impact of Labour Market Policies on Late Career Employment from a Life Course Perspective

2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
JENNY BENNETT ◽  
KATJA MÖHRING
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Early Retirement ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
Central Research ◽  
Employment Protection Legislation ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Protection Legislation ◽  
The Impact

AbstractWe investigate the labour market situation of older individuals in Europe in relation to their previous employment history as well as the regulations relating to employment protection legislation and early retirement. Specifically, we look at the competing risks of early retirement and late career unemployment. The central research question is whether policy effects differ according to the characteristics of an individual's previous work history. We employ data for twelve European countries from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARELIFE) and estimate multilevel regression models. The results show different mechanisms for the risks of unemployment and early retirement. Late career unemployment results from individual factors related to fragmented careers, marginal employment and short tenures. In the case of early retirement, we find the interplay of individual and policy factors to be crucial. Persons with consistent careers have an increased probability of early retirement, but only in countries with generous early retirement benefits. However, employment protection legislation appears to counteract early retirement for this group of individuals. We conclude that policy factors do not have uniform effects for older individuals, but should rather be viewed against the background of previous developments in individual career paths.

scholarly journals Importance of Employment Protection and Types of Employment Contracts for Elasticity of Employment in the OECD Countries

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-44
Author(s):  
Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski ◽  
Przemysław Włodarczyk
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Oecd Countries ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
Employment Protection Legislation ◽  
Real Wages ◽  
Market Institutions ◽  
Employment Contracts ◽  
Protection Legislation ◽  
The Impact

This article presents the impact of the global crisis on employment in the OECD countries, and in particular is an attempt to explain why the impact is of a different scope in particular countries. Particular attention has been paid to the question of the role played by labour market institutions (such as employment protection legislation and fixed-term employment). The global economic crisis has influenced the situation in the labour markets of OECD countries, causing declines in employment and increases in unemployment. Changes in the level of employment in individual countries varied. Between 2007-2012 declines in production took place in the majority of OECD countries. Declines in real wages were also observed in those countries. On the other hand, in the period of 2005-2012 relatively small changes in labour market institutions occurred. With respect to both the stringency of employment protection legislation, as well as the share of fixed-term employment, there were no clearly visible trends in the data during the period of economic crisis. The econometric verification of theoretical hypotheses was performed using annual data from the 2005-2012 period for 26 OECD countries, and it shows that GDP and real wages were statistically significant determinants of employment size in the analyzed period. The study also confirmed the hypothesis of the existence of a non-linear (U-shaped) relationship between employment elasticity with respect to GDP and the level of stringency of employment protection legislation, as well as the share of fixed-term employment in the total number of employment contracts. The results show that the smallest declines in employment during a crisis might be expected in countries where the level of EPL is close to 2, and the share of fixed-term employment in the total number of employment contracts is close to 18%.

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

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Niall O’Higgins ◽  
Giovanni Pica
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
Employment Protection Legislation ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Market Institutions ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Labour Market Institutions ◽  
Protection Legislation ◽  
Labour Market Outcomes ◽  
The Impact

AbstractWe 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.

scholarly journals Educational differences in macro-level determinants of early exit from paid work: a multilevel analysis of 14 European countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha de Breij ◽  
Martijn Huisman ◽  
Dorly J. H. Deeg
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Early Retirement ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Employment Protection Legislation ◽  
Labour Market Policies ◽  
Educational Differences ◽  
Protection Legislation ◽  
Low Educated

Abstract The aim of this study was to identify macro-level determinants of early work exit and investigate whether the effects of these determinants differ across educational groups. We used data from the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) (2011–2013) and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) (2010/2011–2012/2013) as well as macro-level data and included 10,584 participants in 14 European countries. We used logistic multilevel analyses to examine educational differences in macro-level determinants of early work exit. Macro-level determinants were: minimum unemployment replacement rates, expenditure on active labour market policies (aimed to help the unemployed find work) and passive labour market policies (unemployment and early retirement benefits), employment protection legislation (costs involved in dismissing individuals), unemployment rates, statutory pension age and implicit tax on continued work. We found low-educated workers to be more at risk of early work exit than higher educated workers. In low-educated men, higher unemployment replacement rates, higher expenditure on passive labour market policies, stricter employment protection legislation and a higher implicit tax on continued work were associated with a higher risk of early work exit, whereas no macro-level factors were associated with early work exit in highly educated men. In women, a higher expenditure on passive labour market policies and a higher implicit tax on continued work were determinants of early work exit, regardless of educational level. To conclude, low-educated men seem to be especially responsive to the effects of pull factors that make early retirement financially more attractive.

scholarly journals Labour Market Regulations and Capital Intensity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilbert Cette ◽  
Jimmy Lopez ◽  
Jacques Mairesse
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Capital Intensity ◽  
Service Industries ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
Skilled Workers ◽  
Large Country ◽  
Down Low ◽  
Highly Skilled ◽  
Protection Legislation ◽  
The Impact

What is the impact of labour market regulations as measured by the OECD indicator of employment protection legislation (EPL) on capital and skill composition? Precisely, this study investigates the effects of changes in EPL on changes in four types of capital and three components of labour skill. They include construction, non-ICT, ICT, and R&D capital components on the one hand, and low-, medium-, and highly-skilled labour on the other. Our analysis is grounded on a large country–industry panel dataset of fourteen OECD countries, and eighteen manufacturing and market service industries, from 1988 to 2007. It shows that strengthening EPL lowers ICT capital and, even more severely, R&D capital relative to non-ICT and construction capital; it also brings down low-skilled relative to highly-skilled workers’ employment. These results suggest that structural reforms for more labour flexibility could have a favourable impact on firms’ R&D investment and hiring of low-skilled workers.

scholarly journals Labour market flexibilization and income distribution in Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-185
Author(s):  
Philips Arestis ◽  
Jesús Ferreiro ◽  
Carmen Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Income Distribution ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
Employment Protection Legislation ◽  
Temporary Workers ◽  
Real Wages ◽  
Income Share ◽  
Labour Income ◽  
Protection Legislation

This paper analyses the role played by the flexibilization of labour markets on functional income distribution. Specifically, we analyse whether employment protection legislation affects the evolution of labour income share, measured by the size of compensation of employees as a percentage of GDP, the sum of wages and salaries as a percentage of GDP and the size of the adjusted wage share, in twenty European economies. Our study?s results show that the evolution of labour income share is explained by the economic growth, the growth of employment and unemployment rates, and the growth of real wages. Regarding the role played by the flexibility of the labour market, and specifically of the employment protection legislation, only employment protection for temporary workers has a significant impact on the evolution of labour shares. Our results show that stricter provisions on the use of fixed-term and temporary agency contracts have a positive impact on the growth of labour shares.

Slovenian labour market policies under austerity: narrowing the gap between the well- and the less well‑protected in the labour market?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroljub Ignjatović ◽  
Maša Filipovič Hrast
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Employment Protection Legislation ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Market Policy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Protection Legislation ◽  
The Unemployed

The economic crisis stimulated several reforms of the Slovenian labour market. In this chapter we present the major labour market policy changes, with emphasis on the period after 2010. These changes are also presented in relation to the retrenchment/expansion of policies, the adoption of activation and flexicurity, and their consequences for the living standards of the most vulnerable groups. The objective of labour market changes seems to be to increase flexibility and to implement activation (and social investment) more fully, as well as to improve the position of the most vulnerable groups on the labour market. Despite that, retrenchment has also been evident. The changes in labour regulations in 2014 reduced the employment protection legislation index for regular contracts, and the cuts in unemployment benefits, along with the changes in the social security system, have affected the unemployed, who remain among the groups most at risk of poverty.

Firms’ Adjustments to Employment Protection Legislation: Evidence from South Korea

ILR Review ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 733-759 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jisun Baek ◽  
WooRam Park
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
Employment Protection Legislation ◽  
Temporary Workers ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Employment Level ◽  
Temporary Contracts ◽  
Protection Legislation ◽  
The Impact

The authors examine the impact of employment protection legislation on firm-level outcomes such as employment and profitability in South Korea. The 2007 Act on the Protection of Temporary Workers restricted the use of specific types of temporary contracts to a period of two years. Exploiting the fact that the impact of the reforms was greater for establishments that intensively used the affected temporary workers, the authors apply a difference-in-differences framework. Their results show that businesses responded to the Act by reducing the use of temporary contracts protected by the reforms and partially substituting them with permanent and other unprotected temporary contracts. As a result, the reform decreased overall employment level of establishments. Furthermore, the authors find that the newly introduced regulations had a limited negative impact on firms’ profitability. Evidence suggests that establishments also improved their capital intensity and their labor productivity in response to the labor reform.

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