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Job Protection, Minimum Wage and Unemployment

Author

Listed:
  • Cahuc, Pierre

    (Sciences Po, Paris)

  • Zylberberg, Andre

    (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)

Abstract

We analyze how wage setting institutions and job-security provisions interact on unemployment. The assumption that wages are renegotiated by mutual agreement only is introduced in a matching model with endogenous job destruction à la Mortensen and Pissarides (1994) in order to get wage profiles with proper microfoundations. Then, it is shown that job protection policies influence the wage distribution and that government mandated severance transfers from employers to workers are not any more neutral, as in the standard matching model where wages are continuously renegotiated: In our framework high redundancy transfers influence employment. Moreover, the assumption of renegotiation by mutual agreement allows us to introduce a minimum wage in a coherent way, and to study its interactions with job protection policies. Our computational exercises suggest that redundancy transfers and administrative dismissal restrictions have negligeable unemployment effects when wages are flexible or when the minimum wage is low, but a dramatic positive impact on unemployment when there is a high minimum wage.

Suggested Citation

  • Cahuc, Pierre & Zylberberg, Andre, 1999. "Job Protection, Minimum Wage and Unemployment," IZA Discussion Papers 95, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp95
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    Cited by:

    1. Joseph, G. & Pierrard, O. & Sneessens, H. R., 2004. "Job turnover, unemployment and labor market institutions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 451-468, August.
    2. Berson, Clémence & Ferrari, Nicolas, 2015. "Financial incentives and labour market duality," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 77-92.
    3. Olivier Pierrard & Henri Sneessens, 2004. "The European Labour Markets - Aggregate Unemployment and Relative Wage Rigidities," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 5(1), pages 19-23, October.
    4. Bernhard Boockmann, 2010. "The Combined Employment Effects of Minimum Wages and Labor Market Regulation—a Meta-Analysis," Applied Economics Quarterly (formerly: Konjunkturpolitik), Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 61(Supplemen), pages 167-188.
    5. Cahuc, Pierre & Zylberberg, Andre, 1999. "Redundancy Payments, Incomplete Labor Contracts, Unemployment and Welfare," IZA Discussion Papers 96, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Cahuc, Pierre & Malherbet, Franck, 2004. "Unemployment compensation finance and labor market rigidity," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3-4), pages 481-501, March.
    7. Fertig, Michael & Schmidt, Christoph M., 2000. "Discretionary Measures of Active Labor Market Policy: The German Employment Promotion Reform in Perspective," IZA Discussion Papers 182, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Malherbet, Franck & L'Haridon, Olivier, 2002. "Unemployment Compensation Finance and Aggregate Employment Fluctuations," CEPR Discussion Papers 3614, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Olivier Pierrard & Henri Sneessens, 2004. "The European Labour Markets - Aggregate Unemployment and Relative Wage Rigidities," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 5(01), pages 19-23, October.
    10. Olivier Charlot & Franck Malherbet, 2010. "Réforme de la protection de l'emploi et inégalités face au chômage dans un modèle d'appariement," Recherches économiques de Louvain, De Boeck Université, vol. 76(1), pages 57-112.
    11. Ms. Jianping Zhou, 2006. "Reforming Employment Protection Legislation in France," IMF Working Papers 2006/108, International Monetary Fund.
    12. International Monetary Fund, 2005. "France: Selected Issues," IMF Staff Country Reports 2005/397, International Monetary Fund.
    13. L'Haridon, Olivier & Malherbet, Franck, 2009. "Employment protection reform in search economies," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 255-273, April.
    14. Michèle Belot & Jan Boone & Jan Van Ours, 2007. "Welfare‐Improving Employment Protection," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 74(295), pages 381-396, August.
    15. Charlot, Olivier & Malherbet, Franck, 2010. "Education and the Welfare Gains from Employment Protection," IZA Discussion Papers 4799, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Adriana D. Kugler, 2001. "From severance pay to self-insurance: Effects of severance payments savings accounts in Colombia," Economics Working Papers 592, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    17. Olivier Charlot, 2006. "Éducation, destruction des emplois et performance du marché du travail dans un modèle d'appariement," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 57(1), pages 5-33.
    18. John T. Addison & Orgul Demet Ozturk, 2012. "Minimum Wages, Labor Market Institutions, and Female Employment: A Cross-Country Analysis," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 65(4), pages 779-809, October.
    19. Li, Zheng & Gao, Shan & Song, Shunfeng, 2023. "Labor protection, labor costs, and China's outward foreign direct investment," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 444-459.
    20. Addison, John T. & Ozturk, Orgul Demet, 2010. "Minimum Wages, Labor Market Institutions, and Female Employment and Unemployment: A Cross-Country Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 5162, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    21. Victoria Osuna & Jose-Ignacio García-Pérez, 2012. "The effects of introducing a single open-ended contract in Spain," EcoMod2012 3825, EcoMod.
    22. Isabelle Méjean & Lise Patureau, 2007. "Location Decisions and Minimum Wages," Working Papers 2007-16, CEPII research center.
    23. Bonin, Holger & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2000. "The Post-Unification German Labor Market," IZA Discussion Papers 185, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    24. Méjean, Isabelle & Patureau, Lise, 2010. "Firms' location decisions and minimum wages," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 45-59, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unemployment; job protection; minimum wage; matching models; renegotiation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H29 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Other
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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