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Do wages increase when severance pay drops? Not in recessions

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  • Pedro S. Martins

Abstract

According to theory, wage rigidity may increase the scope for employment protection legislation (EPL) to have negative effects on employment. In this paper, we study this issue by analysing the extent to which entry wages respond to EPL. We exploit a recent reform in Portugal, in the midst of a recession, that reduced severance pay for new hires alone. Our main analysis is based on a regression-discontinuity approach using long monthly data on entry wages. We find no evidence of wage adjustments following the change in EPL, even when considering many different specifications and samples. This result highlights the potential of greater flexibility in EPL over the business cycle to reduce employment fluctuations.

Suggested Citation

  • Pedro S. Martins, 2016. "Do wages increase when severance pay drops? Not in recessions," Working Papers 77, Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management, Centre for Globalisation Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:cgs:wpaper:77
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    File URL: http://cgr.sbm.qmul.ac.uk/CGRWP77.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lars Ljungqvist, 2002. "How Do Lay--off Costs Affect Employment?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(482), pages 829-853, October.
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    3. Fella Giulio, 2012. "Matching, Wage Rigidities and Efficient Severance Pay," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-35, December.
    4. Pedro S. Martins, 2016. "Can overtime premium flexibility promote employment? Firm- and worker-level evidence from a labour law reform," Working Papers 72, Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management, Centre for Globalisation Research.
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    14. Pedro S. Martins & Gary Solon & Jonathan P. Thomas, 2012. "Measuring What Employers Do about Entry Wages over the Business Cycle: A New Approach," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 36-55, October.
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    1. Pedro S. Martins, 2016. "The third worker: Assessing the trade-off between employees and contractors," Working Papers 75, Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management, Centre for Globalisation Research.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Employment law; Seasonality; Wage rigidity; Severance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity

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