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Labor Market Reforms and Unemployment: Lessons from the Experience of the OECD Countries

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  • Stefano Scarpetta

Abstract

The OECD labor market has undergone major changes over the past two decades. The most evident of these changes is the rise in the number of job-seekers. In 1997, there were more than 35 million people unemployed in the OECD area as a whole, some 6 million more than in the mid-1980s and almost 25 million more than in the early 1970s. These figures hide profound differences across countries. In the major European countries, unemployment has increased dramatically over the past two decades and in some of them, including Italy, Spain, and France, increases that were initially cyclical have tended to become structural over time.

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  • Stefano Scarpetta, 1998. "Labor Market Reforms and Unemployment: Lessons from the Experience of the OECD Countries," Research Department Publications 4136, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    • Handle: RePEc:idb:wpaper:4136
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    2. Gradzewicz, Michal & Jędrzejowicz, Tomasz & Żółkiewski, Zbigniew, 2007. "The cost of fiscal tightening in Poland on the road to the Euro: does the labour market matter? (CGE model simulations)," MPRA Paper 28146, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Elena Podrecca, 2011. "Labour market institutions and wage setting: evidence for OECD countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(25), pages 3671-3686.
    4. Bjørnstad, Roger & Kalstad, Kjartan Øren, 2010. "Increased price markup from union coordination: OECD panel evidence," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 4, pages 1-37.
    5. Amendola, Marco & Ciampa, Valerio & Germani, Lorenzo, 2024. "The distributional effects of labour market deregulation: Wage share and fixed-term contracts," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 328-338.
    6. James J. Heckman, 2002. "Flexibility and Job Creation: Lessons for Germany," NBER Working Papers 9194, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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