Les marchés du travail dans la crise

As a consequence of the economic crisis, the labor market situation has deteriorated sharply in major developed countries. However, the increase in unemployment masks a relative resistance to an outstanding production shock. This resistance is primarily due to the low and incomplete adjustment of employment. It is also related to changes in activity rates that traditionally absorb employment shocks because of workers discouragement. We detail labor market reaction in seven major countries. We first show that, except for Spain and the United States, the employment adjustment is not finished yet. Then, we show that differences in employment adjustment can be partly explained by internal flexibility (changes in working time and labor costs). Finally, we analyze how the deterioration of labor market impacts unemployment by studying activity behaviors.