The Impact of Regulations on Brazilian Labor Market Performance

The objective of this paper is to identify whether the prevailing Brazilian labor market regulations, largely the result of the 1988 constitutional change, have any impact on labor market performance. To reach this objective we explore alternative methodologies, sources of information and measures of labor market performance.

The effects of tax incentives for small firms on employment levels

This paper will examine the effects of tax incentives for small businesseson employment level evaluating a program with this purpose implemented in Brazil in the 1990s. We first develop a theoretical framework which guides both the de nition of the parameters of interest and their identi cation. Selection problems both into the treatment group and into the data sampleare tackled by combining fi xed effects methods and regression discontinuity design on alternative sub-samples of a longitudinal database of manufacturing fi rms. The results show that on the one hand the size composition of thetreated fi rms may be changed due to the survival of some smaller fi rms that would have exited had it not been eligible to the program. On the other hand, the treated fi rms who do not depend on the program to survive do employ more workers.

Alternative Ways of Measuring and Interpreting Worker Flows

The present paper provides empirical evidence compatible with a proposed theoretical framework to explain the joint determination of two components of worker flows: worker replacement and job creation. We show that a negative correlation between job creation and replacement across firms emerges from such a framework. An empirical model is specified and its parameters are estimated taking into account two serious problems: measurement error and endogenous regressor. We take advantage of a matched employer-employee longitudinal database with detailed information on job and worker characteristics to tackle both issues. Our estimates confirm the negative correlation predicted by the theory.job flows; replacement; employment dynamics

Labor market regulations and the demand for labor in Brazil

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of the 1988 changes in labor market regulations prescribed by the new Constitution on the level of employment and on the speed of employment adjustment in Brazil. From the many aspects of labor market regulations, this study concentrates on those that directly influence variable labor and dismissal costs. Evaluating the impact of changes in these costs on the level of employment and speed of adjustment is based on estimates of structural dynamic models for labor demand at different points in time before and after the 1988 constitutional change. The empirical strategy is to estimate such models from micro-longitudinal monthly data for a sample of 5,000 manufacturing establishments, which cover the period from January 1985 to December 1997. To try to isolate the effect of the constitutional change on the parameters of the labor demand function from the effects of the trade liberalization process and from the several stabilization plans that also occurred by the end of the 1980s, we regress our monthly estimates of these parameters on a temporal indicator of the 1988 constitutional change, controlling for a variety of other macroeconomic indicators.

Worker Flows and Firm Dynamics in a Labour Market Model

In this paper we build an integrated framework of the labor market in which worker replacement, job creation and job destruction are decided simultaneously at the firm level, providing a rigorous instrument for the analysis of worker flows. The main features of the model are uncertainty related to worker X firm match quality and search frictions. Worker flow components are decided as firms learn about the quality of their matches. A negative cor- relation between replacement and job creation arises from this mechanism. The model also provides several implications for firm dynamics, which are all confirmed by related empirical papers.worker flows; firm dynamics

New Evidences on What Job Creation and Job Destruction Represent

An alternative measure for gross job flows, incorporating within plant job reallocation, is proposed. Based on data with detailed information about workers occupation, we report the following results: 1. Most of the stylized facts about job reallocation do not change when we take into account within plant job reallocation. 2. Job creation and job destruction figures are decomposed into job created (destructed) by new (dying) firms, job created (destructed) by existing firms by expanding (contracting) workers in existing jobs, and the jobs created (destructed) due to the birth (death) of job categories in incumbent (surviving) establishments. We call the third component as the job mix component. It turned out that the job mix component corresponds to 30% (40%) per cent of job creation (destruction). 3. Also, we describe patterns of job reallocation, and each of the components, by job characteristics as opposed to workers characteristics. The job mix component of both job creation and destruction are concentrated among non-production activities and managerial positions. 4. We interpret these results as evidence that organizational change should be considered as one of the most relevant underlying causes of the employment movements reflected by job creation and job destruction measures. 5. Finally we evaluate the relevance of specific dimensions of organizational change, such as intra-firm reallocation of job categories, outsourcing, changes in the product mix, and labor division. The results points to labor division as the most relevant dimension of organizational change among the ones considered.

Efeitos dos pisos salariais estaduais sobre o mercado de trabalho: uma nova abordagem empírica

Este trabalho avalia os efeitos dos pisos salariais introduzidos no Paraná e emSão Paulo sobre alguns indicadores do mercado de trabalho. Em ambas as Unidades da Federação (UFs), são analisados três grupos ocupacionais distintos com base nos dados da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD/IBGE). Conclui-se que, em um dos grupos de cada UF, a política aumentou a remuneração de trabalhadores que receberiam menos que os respectivos pisos caso estes não tivessem sido criados, sem se contrair o emprego ou se aumentar a informalidade. Nos demais agregados ocupacionais de cada UF, não foi encontrado qualquer efeito significativo da legislação. A maior contribuição deste trabalho é a utilização de uma nova metodologia mais apropriada para identificar efeitos de tratamento em unidades agregadas, apresentada por Abadie et al. (2010).This paper evaluates the introduction of Brazilian regional and occupational wage floors on labor market performance. We focus on two out of five states that implemented such intervention: Paraná and São Paulo. In each state, we have analyzed the effects of the wage floors for three distinct occupational categories. Our results point that one occupational group in each state seems to be affected by the introduction of a wage floor. In both cases, the wage floor tends to reduce the share of employees with wages below the established floor without producing side effect on employment or on informality. It was not found any significant effect of the new legislation in the other occupational groups in each state. We innovate on methodological grounds by using the synthetic control method put forward by Abadie et al. (2010)