Employment protection and collective bargaining during the Great Recession: A comprehensive review of international evidence

In this article, we present information from a unique database of labour market reforms implemented in 111 developed and developing countries between 2008 and 2014. We show that the number of reforms implemented each year has gradually increased and that the majority of reforms were passed in advanced economies – with EU member states being particularly active reformers. Moreover, the results show that permanent contracts and collective bargaining were the most popular areas of policy intervention in the labour market domain and that the majority of reforms decreased the strictness of employment protection legislation – although large disparities emerge across world regions in this respect. Finally, the paper compares our database to different indicators of employment regulation in order to check the consistency of our results

Drivers and effects of labour market reforms : evidence from a novel policy compendium

Abstract The paper analyses the determinants and short-term effects of labour market reforms, using information from a novel policy compendium that covers 110 developed and developing economies between 2008 and 2014. We find that the approval of reforms is positively associated with the unemployment rate, the simultaneous implementation of fiscal consolidation measures and the presence of a fixed exchange rate regime. Differences in the results are explored by looking at the direction of reforms (i.e. increasing or decreasing legislation), temporal horizon (i.e. temporary or permanent measures) and coverage (i.e. complete or two-tier reforms); while also analysing separately reforms’ determinants across domains of labour legislation (e.g. permanent contracts, collective dismissals). Finally, we find that deregulatory labour market reforms tend to increase the unemployment rate in the short run when they are approved during contractionary periods—while they have a non-significant effect when approved during periods of economic stability or expansion. JEL Classification: J20, J52, J38, J48, J58, K31</jats:p

Employment protection and collective bargaining during the great recession : a comprehensive review of international evidence

In this article, we present information from a unique database of labour market reforms implemented in 111 developed and developing countries between 2008 and 2014. We show that the number of reforms implemented each year has gradually increased and that the majority of reforms were passed in advanced economies – with EU member states being particularly active reformers. Moreover, the results show that permanent contracts and collective bargaining were the most popular areas of policy intervention in the labour market domain and that the majority of reforms decreased the strictness of employment protection legislation – although large disparities emerge across world regions in this respect. Finally, the paper compares our database to different indicators of employment regulation in order to check the consistency of our results

Employment protection and collective bargaining during the great recession: a comprehensive review of international evidence

In this article, we present information from a unique database of labour market reforms implemented in 111 developed and developing countries between 2008 and 2014. We show that the number of reforms implemented each year has gradually increased up to 2012 and that the majority of reforms were passed in advanced economies – with some EU member states particularly hit by the crisis being the most active reformers (e.g. Spain, Greece, Italy). Moreover, the results show that permanent contracts and collective bargaining were the most popular areas of labour market policy interventions and that the majority of reforms decreased the strictness of employment protection legislation – although large disparities emerge across world regions in this respect. Finally, the article compares our database to different indicators of employment regulation in order to check the consistency of our results.