The Impact of Employment Protection Mandates on Demographic Temporary Employment Patterns: International Microeconomic Evidence

This article uses 1994-8 International Adult Literacy Survey microdata for Canada, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK and the US to study the impact of employment protection laws (EPL) on joblessness and temporary employment by demographic group. More stringent EPL raises relative non-employment rates for youth, immigrants, and, possibly, women, controlling for demographic variables and country dummies. For wage and salary workers, EPL raises the relative incidence of temporary employment for the low skilled, youth, native women, and especially immigrant women. These effects are often stronger in countries with higher levels of collective bargaining coverage. Copyright 2007 The Author(s). Journal compilation Royal Economic Society 2007.