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Critiquing the OECD’s Employment Protection Legislation Index for individual dismissals: The importance of procedural requirements

Author

Listed:
  • Mark Harcourt

    (University of Waikato, New Zealand)

  • Gregor Gall

    (University of Leeds, UK)

  • Arjun Sree Raman

    (Nirvana Health Group, New Zealand)

  • Helen Lam

    (Athabasca University, Canada)

  • Richard Croucher

    (Middlesex University, UK)

Abstract

Key EU agencies have successfully urged member states to scale back employment protection legislation as a solution to unemployment. The economic arguments for this reform are mixed, with recent empirical evidence largely unsupportive. Critics have also raised doubts about the accuracy of the OECD’s Employment Protection Legislation Index, which is the principal method EU agencies use to target so-called high-protection regimes. This article supplements existing criticisms of the OECD index by arguing that it fails to account for procedural requirements in assessing the difficulties and costs of carrying out individual dismissals. Evidence from New Zealand, ostensibly a low-protection country, demonstrates procedural requirements can pose the main impediments to carrying out individual dismissals. This suggests the need for revision of the OECD Employment Protection Legislation Index or the use of other indices instead.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Harcourt & Gregor Gall & Arjun Sree Raman & Helen Lam & Richard Croucher, 2021. "Critiquing the OECD’s Employment Protection Legislation Index for individual dismissals: The importance of procedural requirements," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 42(4), pages 1210-1231, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:42:y:2021:i:4:p:1210-1231
    DOI: 10.1177/0143831X19856411
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