The Effect of Employment Protection on Worker Effort: Evidence from Public Schooling

Brian A. Jacob

No 15655, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper studies the effect of employment protection on worker productivity and firm output in the context of a public school system. In 2004, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) signed a new collective bargaining agreement that gave principals the flexibility to dismiss probationary teachers (defined as those with less than five years of experience) for any reason, and without the elaborate documentation and hearing process typical in many large, urban school districts. Results suggest that the policy reduced annual teacher absences by roughly 10 percent and reduced the prevalence of teachers with 15 or more annual absences by 20 percent. The effects were strongest among teachers in elementary schools and in low-achieving, predominantly African-American high schools, and among teachers with highpredicted absences. There is also evidence that the impact of the policy increased substantially after its first year.

JEL-codes: I20 I21 I28 J3 J45 J5 J63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-lab and nep-ure
Note: CH ED LS PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Published as The Effect of Employment Protection on Teacher Effort Brian A. Jacob Journal of Labor Economics Vol. 31, No. 4 (October 2013), pp. 727-761

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