Europe’s labor is not competitiveness taking unemployment as the relevant indicator. The paper looks at other …

public sector units in 1991. Since then, per capita output has increased significantly, while the overall unemployment rate … unemployment remains stubbornly high, an overwhelming proportion of the labor force continues to work in the informal sector, and … there is little evidence of a sustained rise in wages for either unskilled rural or factory workers. …

Specialized Employment Survey 1998-2001, we estimate a quasi-experimental difference-in-difference model. We find that this … permanent hiring. We also find a negative association between reinstatements and real wages of 3.9 %, but placebo tests indicate … policy to increase permanent hiring and wages. …