Flexibility vs. Rigidity: Does Spain have the worst of both Worlds?

Gilles Saint-Paul

No 144, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: In this paper we study the structure of labor market flows in Spain and compare them with France and the US. We characterize a number of empirical regularities and stylized facts. One striking result is that the job finding rate is slightly higher than in France, while the jon loss rate is much higher, putting Spain half-way between France and the US. This suggests that while Spain has borne the full cost of its labor market reforms in terms of job precarity, the benefits in terms of job creation have been quite modest. We hypothesize that this has been due to the reform’s credibility being imperfect, which leads to expectation of reversal.

Keywords: labor market flows; job finding; job loss; flexibility; temporary contracts; labor market reform; Unemployment; unemployment duration; unemployment recurrence; on the job search; labor force composition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 J20 J21 J23 J41 J42 J63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2000-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dcm and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Published - published in: Jonas Agell, Michael Keen and Alfons Weichenrieder (eds.), Labor Market Institutions and Public Regulation, 2004, 101-122

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Working Paper: Flexibility vs. rigidity: Does Spain have the worst of both worlds? (2000)
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