Does employment protection legislation affect employment and unemployment?

The article analyses the impact of employment protection legislation (EPL) on labour market outcomes. Despite widespread reforms that have reduced employment protection, the evidence on the effects of such reforms is inconclusive. Using data from sixteen European countries over the period 1985–2019,...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Arestis, Philip, Ferreiro Aparicio, Jesús, Gómez Vega, María Carmen
Tipo de documento: artigo
Data de publicação:2023
País:España
Recursos:Universidad del País Vasco
Repositório:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
OAI Identifier:oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/63448
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10810/63448
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:employment protection legislation
employment
employees
unemployment rate
Descrição
Resumo:The article analyses the impact of employment protection legislation (EPL) on labour market outcomes. Despite widespread reforms that have reduced employment protection, the evidence on the effects of such reforms is inconclusive. Using data from sixteen European countries over the period 1985–2019, we analyse the impact of EPL on the dynamics of employment, employees and unemployment rates. In contrast to existing studies, we analyse both the existence of a linear relationship between EPL and labour market outcomes and the existence of a non-linear relationship, as well as interaction effects between EPL and economic growth. Our results show that employment protection does not explain the changes in employment, employees and unemployment rates. Therefore, labour reforms that have reduced employment protection by reducing dismissal costs and facilitating the use of temporary contracts have not had the presumed positive effects on employment and unemployment rates.