The Substitution of Worksharing and Short-Time Compensation in France: A Difference-in-differences Approach

Abstract

The short-time compensation (STC) program aims at avoiding redundancies in case of strong short-term downturns. In the literature, STC is an instrument of both job security and flexibility. This paper investigates the impact of worksharing on STC in France. The form of worksharing examined in this study is the reduction of the standard or contractual hours worked per week to 35 hours in France. We quantify the average decrease in the STC recourse with difference-in-differences estimators assessed on a balanced panel of French establishments. We highlight a substitution effect between STC and worksharing due to their internal flexibility role. As a consequence, STC seems to be less used as a flexibility device and the worksharing policy would refocus STC on its employment protection role.