Labor Market Institutions and Unemployment Dynamics in Transition Economies

Labor Market Institutions and Unemployment Dynamics in Transition Economies PDF Author: Ms.Zuzana Brixiova
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1451930569
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 47

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Book Description
This paper studies interactions between labor market institutions and unemployment dynamics in transition economies. It presents a dynamic matching model in which state sector firms endogenously shed labor and private job creation takes time. Two main conclusions arises. First, higher unemployment benefits increase steady-state unemployment, and, during the transition, they reduce the fall in real wages and speed up closure of state enterprises. Second, higher minimum wages can theoretically speed up the elimination of state sector jobs without affecting steady-state unemployment. These results are broadly consistent with existing evidence on the dynamics of unemployment and real wages in transition economies.

Labor Market Institutions and Unemployment Dynamics in Transition Economies

Labor Market Institutions and Unemployment Dynamics in Transition Economies PDF Author: Ms.Zuzana Brixiova
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1451930569
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 47

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Book Description
This paper studies interactions between labor market institutions and unemployment dynamics in transition economies. It presents a dynamic matching model in which state sector firms endogenously shed labor and private job creation takes time. Two main conclusions arises. First, higher unemployment benefits increase steady-state unemployment, and, during the transition, they reduce the fall in real wages and speed up closure of state enterprises. Second, higher minimum wages can theoretically speed up the elimination of state sector jobs without affecting steady-state unemployment. These results are broadly consistent with existing evidence on the dynamics of unemployment and real wages in transition economies.

The Labor Market and Economic Adjustment

The Labor Market and Economic Adjustment PDF Author: Pierre-Richard Agénor
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1451854781
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 98

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Book Description
This paper examines the role of the labor market in the transmission process of adjustment policies in developing countries. It begins by reviewing the recent evidence regarding the functioning of these markets. It then studies the implications of wage inertia, nominal contracts, labor market segmentation, and impediments to labor mobility for stabilization policies. The effect of labor market reforms on economic flexibility and the channels through which labor market imperfections alter the effects of structural adjustment measures are discussed next. The last part of the paper identifies a variety of issues that may require further investigation, such as the link between changes in relative wages and the distributional effects of adjustment policies.

Labor Market Institutions Around the World

Labor Market Institutions Around the World PDF Author: Richard Barry Freeman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Economic development
Languages : en
Pages : 52

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Book Description
The paper documents the large cross-country differences in labor institutions that make them a candidate explanatory factor for the divergent economic performance of countries and reviews what economists have learned about the effects of these institutions on economic outcomes. It identifies three ways in which institutions affect economic performance: by altering incentives, by facilitating efficient bargaining, and by increasing information, communication, and trust. The evidence shows that labor institutions reduce the dispersion of earnings and income inequality, which alters incentives, but finds equivocal effects on other aggregate outcomes, such as employment and unemployment. Given weaknesses in the cross-country data on which most studies focus, the paper argues for increased use of micro-data, simulations, and experiments to illuminate how labor institutions operate and affect outcomes.

Do Active Labor Market Policies Increase Employment?

Do Active Labor Market Policies Increase Employment? PDF Author: Mr.Marcello M. Estevão
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1451875649
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 31

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Book Description
Using panel data for 15 industrial countries, active labor market policies (ALMPs) are shown to have raised employment rates in the business sector in the 1990s, after controlling for many institutions, country-specific effects, and economic variables. Among such policies, direct subsidies to job creation were the most effective. ALMPs also affected employment rates by reducing real wages below levels allowed by technological growth, changes in the unemployment rate, and institutional and other economic factors. However, part of this wage moderation may be linked to a composition effect because policies were targeted to low-paid individuals. Whether ALMPs are cost-effective from a budgetary perspective remains to be determined, but they are certainly not substitutes for comprehensive institutional reforms.

Taxation and Unemployment

Taxation and Unemployment PDF Author: Mr.Howell H. Zee
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1451974345
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 56

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Book Description
This paper reviews conceptual linkages between taxation and unemployment, available empirical evidence and country policies that may have a bearing on these linkages in the OECD and in a sample of developing and transitional economies, Fund policy advice on these issues, and tax policy options in addressing the unemployment problem. It concludes that the emphasis in policy should be placed on minimizing tax distortions, rather than on formulating activist tax policies to reduce unemployment.

Impacts of Labor Market Institutions and Demographic Factors on Labor Markets in Latin America

Impacts of Labor Market Institutions and Demographic Factors on Labor Markets in Latin America PDF Author: Adriana D. Kugler
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484393848
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
This paper documents recent labor market performance in the Latin American region. The paper shows that unemployment, informality, and inequality have been falling over the past two decades, though still remain high. By contrast, productivity has remained stubbornly low. The paper, then, turns to the potential impacts of various labor market institutions, including employment protection legislation (EPL), minimum wages (MW), payroll taxes, unemployment insurance (UI) and collective bargaining, as well as the impacts of demographic changes on labor market performance. The paper relies on evidence from carefully conducted studies based on micro-data for countries in the region and for other countries with similar income levels to draw conclusions on the impact of labor market institutions and demographic factors on unemployment, informality, inequality and productivity. The decreases in unemployment and informality can be partly explained by the reduced strictness of EPL and payroll taxes, but also by the increased shares of more educated and older workers. By contrast, the fall in inequality starting in 2002 can be explained by a combination of binding MW throughout most of the region and, to a lesser extent, by the introduction of UI systems in some countries and the role of unions in countries with moderate unionization rates. Falling inequality can also be explained by the fall in the returns to skill associated with increased share of more educated and older workers.

Labor Market Duality in Korea

Labor Market Duality in Korea PDF Author: Johanna Schauer
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484360915
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
Labor market duality is a complex and critical issue for many countries that can lower productivity, contribute to inequality and result in negative externalities. In this paper, I study duality in the Korean labor market and analyze its sources and potential policy options. I find that employment protection legislations and large productivity differentials are the key drivers of Korea’s duality. In addition, applying a general equilibrium search-and-matching model and calibrating it to the Korean economy, I show that well-calibrated flexicurity policies can significantly reduce duality and inequality and raise welfare and productivity. Notably, the introduction of all three pillars—flexiblity, a strong safety net and active labor market policies—is critical for its success. If only one pillar is introduced it can result in negative side-effects and might not reduce duality.

The Dynamics of Full Employment

The Dynamics of Full Employment PDF Author: G_nther Schmid
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 9781843765400
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 472

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Book Description
Persistent unemployment is recognized as one of the main mechanisms of social and political exclusion. The Dynamics of Full Employment provides a new and fresh approach to the question of full employment in contemporary society. It offers an international

Labor Market Dynamics: A Hidden Markov Approach

Labor Market Dynamics: A Hidden Markov Approach PDF Author: Mr.Ippei Shibata
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513519263
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 71

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Book Description
This paper proposes a hidden state Markov model (HMM) that incorporates workers’ unobserved labor market attachment into the analysis of labor market dynamics. Unlike previous literature, which typically assumes that a worker’s observed labor force status follows a first-order Markov process, the proposed HMM allows workers with the same labor force status to have different history-dependent transition probabilities. I show that the estimated HMM generates labor market transition probabilities that match those observed in the data, while the first-order Markov model (FOM) and its many-state extensions cannot. Even compared with the extended FOM, the HMM improves the fit of the empirical transition probabilities by a factor of 30. I apply the HMM to (1) calculate the long-run consequences of separation from stable employment, (2) study evolutions of employment stability across different demographic groups over the past several decades, (3) compare the dynamics of labor market flows during the Great Recession to those during the 1981 recession, and (4) highlight the importance of looking beyond distributions of current labor force status.

Designing Labor Market Institutions in Emerging and Developing Economies

Designing Labor Market Institutions in Emerging and Developing Economies PDF Author: Mr.Romain A Duval
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1498315208
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 58

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Book Description
This paper discusses theoretical aspects and evidences related to designing labor market institutions in emerging market and developing economies. This note reviews the state of theory and evidence on the design of labor market institutions in a developing economy context and then reviews its consistency with actual labor market advice in a selected set of emerging and developing economies. The focus is mainly on three broad sets of institutions that matter for both workers’ protection and labor market efficiency: employment protection, unemployment insurance and social assistance, minimum wages and collective bargaining. Text mining techniques are used to identify IMF recommendations in these areas in Article IV Reports for 30 emerging and frontier economies over 2005–2016. This note has provided a critical review of the literature on the design of labor market institutions in emerging and developing market economies, and benchmarked the advice featured in IMF recommendations for 30 emerging market and frontier economies against the tentative conclusions from the literature.