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Does Employment Protection Help Immigrants? Evidence from European Labor Markets

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  • Sa, Filipa

    (King's College London)

Abstract

High levels of employment protection reduce hiring and firing and have a theoretically ambiguous effect on the employment level. Immigrants, being new to the labor market, may be less aware of employment protection regulations and less likely to claim their rights, which may create a gap between the costs for employers of hiring a native relative to hiring an immigrant. This paper tests that hypothesis drawing on evidence for the EU and on two natural experiments for Spain and Italy. The results suggest that strict employment protection legislation (EPL) gives immigrants a comparative advantage relative to natives. Stricter EPL is found to reduce employment and reduce hiring and firing rates for natives. By contrast, stricter EPL has no effect on most immigrants and may even increase employment rates for those who have been in the country for a longer time.

Suggested Citation

  • Sa, Filipa, 2008. "Does Employment Protection Help Immigrants? Evidence from European Labor Markets," IZA Discussion Papers 3414, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3414
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    Cited by:

    1. Nanos, Panagiotis & Schluter, Christian, 2014. "The composition of wage differentials between migrants and natives," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 23-44.
    2. Almosova, Anna, 2013. "Labor Market Institutions and The Effect of Immigration on National Employment," MPRA Paper 49785, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 12 Sep 2013.
    3. Mariusz Zielinski, 2018. "Effect of the economic situation on employment and its structure in the Central and Eastern European countries," Ekonomia i Prawo, Uniwersytet Mikolaja Kopernika, vol. 17(3), pages 329-337, September.
    4. Mari Kangasniemi & Merja Kauhanen, 2013. "Characteristics and labour market performance of the new member state (NMS12) immigrants in Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom," Norface Discussion Paper Series 2013002, Norface Research Programme on Migration, Department of Economics, University College London.
    5. Mariusz Zielinski, 2015. "Unemployment And Labor Market Policy In Visegrad Group Countries," Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 10(3), pages 185-201, September.
    6. repec:lan:wpaper:4297 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Edo Anthony, 2015. "The Impact of Immigration on Native Wages and Employment," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 15(3), pages 1151-1196, July.
    8. Govert E. Bijwaard & Christian Schluter & Jackline Wahba, 2012. "The Impact of Labour Market Dynamics on the Return–Migration of Immigrants," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1227, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    9. repec:lan:wpaper:4723 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Steinar Holden & Åsa Rosén, 2014. "Discrimination And Employment Protection," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 12(6), pages 1676-1699, December.
    11. repec:lan:wpaper:4295 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. repec:lan:wpaper:4422 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. H Ingham & M Ingham, 2009. "Poland''s Jobless Growth: A Temporary Cure?," Working Papers 600233, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    14. Sharron Xuanren Wang & Arthur Sakamoto, 2016. "Did the Great Recession Downsize Immigrants and Native-Born Americans Differently? Unemployment Differentials by Nativity, Race and Gender from 2007 to 2013 in the U.S," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 5(3), pages 1-14, September.
    15. Anthony Edo, 2013. "The Impact of Immigration on Native Wages and Employment," Post-Print halshs-00881131, HAL.
    16. Vincent Corluy & Gerlinde Verbist, 2014. "Can education bridge the gap? Education and the employment position of immigrants in Belgium," ImPRovE Working Papers 14/02, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    17. Merja Kauhanen & Mari Kangasniemi, 2012. "Characteristics and labour market performance of the new member state immigrants in Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom after the enlargement of 2004," Working Papers 283, Työn ja talouden tutkimus LABORE, The Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    employment protection; immigration;

    JEL classification:

    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers

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