Measures of individual happiness, or well-being, can guide labor market policies. Individual unemployment, as well as the rate of unemployment in society, have a negative effect on happiness. In contrast, employment protection and unemployment benefits can contribute to happiness—though when...

We sketch a visionary strategy for Europe in which full employment is quickly regained by 2020, income inequality is reduced and the economies are more sustainable. We call this scenario "vibrant". It is contrasted with what would happen if present policies continue within the European Union...

Evidence suggests that productivity would be much higher and unemployment much lower if the supply of and demand for skills were better matched. As a result, skills mismatch between workers (supply) and jobs (demand) commands the ongoing attention of policymakers in many countries. Policies...

Zu den atypischen Beschaeftigungsverhaeltnissen zaehlen wir im Folgenden (im Sinne einer Nominaldefinition) Teilzeit, geringfuegige Beschaeftigung/Mini- und Midijobs, befristete Beschaeftigung, Leiharbeit, Werkvertraege sowie Solo-Selbststaendigkeit. Die dieses Schwerpunktheftes spiegeln sowohl...

Atypische Beschäftigungsformen haben seit Beginn der 1990er Jahre auf dem deutschen Arbeitsmarkt stark an Bedeutung gewonnen. Infolge dieser Entwicklung werden eine Destabilisierung von Erwerbsverläufen sowie negative Folgewirkungen für atypisch Erwerbstätige konstatiert. Vor diesem...

This paper presents evidence on a rise and fall in income inequality in Chile during the past two decades. We show that income inequality rises from 1990 to 2000 and then falls from 2000 to 2011. We perform simple but informative decompositions to figure out the contributing factors behind that...

In many transition countries, the collapse of communism ushered in language reforms to adapt to the newfound independence from the Soviet Union and openness to the rest of the world. Such reforms may have implications for individuals' economic opportunities, since foreign language proficiency...

Self-employed workers account for between 8 and 30 % of participants in the labor markets of OECD countries (Blanchower, Self-employment: more may not be better, 2004). This paper develops and estimates a general equilibrium model of the labor market that accounts for this sizable proportion....