Deregulation of temporary agency employment in a unionized economy: Does this really lead to a substitution of regular employment?

Philipp Baudy and Dario Cords

No 06-2016, Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences from University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Abstract: There have been continuous deregulation efforts concerning temporary agency employment in almost all European countries aiming at an increasing flexibility in the European labor markets. This paper theoretically investigates the effects of a legal deregulation of temporary agency employment on wage setting and the employment structure in a unionized economy with labor market frictions. Multiple-worker firms bargain simultaneously with temporary agencies and labor unions to determine the respective labor costs. It is shown that there is a hump-shaped relationship between the degree of legal deregulation of temporary agency employment and the rate of temporary employment used in the production process. Temporary agency employment may even decrease despite its deregulation. Furthermore, regular employment monotonically increases, while individual workers and labor unions suffer from deregulation due to declining wages and a reduction in labor union's utility.

Keywords: Matching Theory; Labor Unions; Temporary Agency Work; Wage-Setting Process (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C78 J21 J31 J51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-lab and nep-law
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:hohdps:062016

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