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Temporary Contracts, Employees' Effort and Labour Productivity: The Evidence for Italy

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  • Emanuela Ghignoni

Abstract

This paper discusses a thesis indicated by recent empirical evidence from both European and non European countries; namely, if firms use temporary contracts as a tool to screen potential employees and provide workers with a "stepping stone" into permanent employment, then temporary employees have an incentive to make more effort than their permanent colleagues. After a theoretical discussion, the paper focuses on the econometrical analysis of this thesis in an institutional context, like the Italian one, in which firms are likely to use temporary contracts, mainly to adjust the workforce during the cycle. Data are drawn from ISFOL-Plus 2005 and from ECHP (1996-2001) for Italy. The paper concludes by pointing out that a higher effort does not necessary mean higher labour productivity, and suggests public policies to improve effort and productivity in labour markets characterised by an increase of temporary jobs.

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  • Emanuela Ghignoni, 2009. "Temporary Contracts, Employees' Effort and Labour Productivity: The Evidence for Italy," Economia politica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 2, pages 279-314.
    • Handle: RePEc:mul:jb33yl:doi:10.1428/29851:y:2009:i:2:p:279-314
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    Cited by:

    1. Tealdi, Cristina, 2011. "Typical and atypical employment contracts: the case of Italy," MPRA Paper 39456, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Emanuela Ghignoni, 2011. "Young workers' overeducation and cohort effects in P.I.G.S. countries versus the Netherlands: a pseudo-panel analysis," Working Papers in Public Economics 147, Department of Economics and Law, Sapienza University of Roma.
    3. Michele Capriati & Valeria Cirillo & Marialuisa Divella, 2024. "Productivity slowdown across European regions: does non-standard work matter?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(9), pages 1687-1709, September.
    4. Paulo Aguiar do Monte, 2019. "Effort Level by Firm Size in a Developing Country," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 62(1), pages 73-87, March.
    5. Addessi, William, 2014. "The productivity effect of permanent and temporary labor contracts in the Italian manufacturing sector," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 666-672.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • M51 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Firm Employment Decisions; Promotions
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy

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