More alike than different: : the Spanish and Irish labour markets before and after the crisis

This paper analyses the labour markets of Spain and Ireland, which have experienced a severe downturn in the recent global crisis as reflected by the largest increases in their unemployment rates among other developed economies. Spain and Ireland might seem at first to feature very different labour markets, which go from very tight to very flexible labour conditions. Our analysis, however, goes beyond this simplistic argument and brings to light the strong commonalities that seem to have been hidden underground. We estimate a dynamic multi-equation structural model for each country, and then offer two sets of dynamic simulations which account for the swings of the unemployment rates before and after the 2007 crisis. Our results suggest looking beyond the degree of flexibility of both labour markets, just to focus instead on other variables usually neglected by more conventional approaches. In particular, such variables as the growth of capital stock, the growth of labour productivity, and demographics, succeed in explaining a great part of the changes in unemployment in both countries.Este documento analiza los mercados laborales de España e Irlanda, que experimentaron una severa desaceleración en la reciente crisis mundial, como lo reflejan los mayores incrementos en sus tasas de desempleo entre otras economías desarrolladas. Al principio, España e Irlanda parecen tener mercados laborales muy diferentes, que van desde condiciones de trabajo muy ajustadas hasta condiciones laborales muy flexibles. Este análisis, sin embargo, va más allá de este argumento simplista y saca a la luz las fuertes similitudes que parecen haberse ocultado bajo tierra. Se estima un modelo estructural dinámico de multi-ecuaciones para cada país, y luego se ofrecen dos conjuntos de simulaciones dinámicas que dan cuenta de las oscilaciones de las tasas de desempleo antes y después de la crisis de 2007. Estos resultados sugieren mirar más allá del grado de flexibilidad de ambos mercados laborales, solo para centrarse en otras variables generalmente descuidadas por los enfoques más convencionales. En particular, variables tales como el crecimiento del stock de capital, el crecimiento de la productividad laboral y la demografía, logran explicar una gran parte de los cambios en el desempleo en ambos países.Fil: Agnese Pablo .Fil: Salvador Pablo F.. CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas) - Universidad Nacional de Cuyo

More Alike than Different: The Spanish and Irish Labour Markets Before and After the Crisis

This paper analyses the labour markets of Spain and Ireland, which have experienced a severe downturn in the recent global crisis as reflected by the largest increases in their unemployment rates among other developed economies. Spain and Ireland might seem at first to feature very different labour markets, which go from very tight to very flexible labour conditions. Our analysis, however, goes beyond this simplistic argument and brings to light the strong commonalities that seem to have been hidden underground. We estimate a dynamic multi-equation structural model for each country, and then offer two sets of dynamic simulations which account for the swings of the unemployment rates before and after the 2007 crisis. Our results suggest looking beyond the degree of flexibility of both labour markets, just to focus instead on other variables usually neglected by more conventional approaches. In particular, such variables as the growth of capital stock, the growth of labour productivity, and demographics, succeed in explaining a great part of the changes in unemployment in both countries.chain reaction theory, structural multi-equation models, unemployment dynamics, simulations, PIGS