Labour Economics

This paper examines the impact of competencies, psychological capital, new work practices and digital technologies on private sector wages in the Italian economy. It demonstratesalso considering industry collective bargaining that tends to fix wage levels according to job complexity, moreover giving rise to employment relations governed by incomplete contracts -that firms pay extra wage premia to workers who: i) use digital technologies, provided they are versatile in the use of these new tools, ii) activate a bundle of distinctive 'generic' competencies, iii) possess personal traits considered by the firm as productive in carrying out work, and iv) occupy positions to which the organizational design attributes greater autonomy and more responsibilities. The wage equation used controls for several detailed factors (firm characteristics, occupations, worker characteristics, working and contract conditions, industrial relations) and was estimated with weighted OLS, also controlling for heteroskedasticity. Endogeneity was tested with GMM estimators.

This paper examines the impact of competencies, psychological capital, new work practices and digital technologies on private sector wages in the Italian economy. It demonstratesalso considering industry collective bargaining that tends to fix wage levels according to job complexity, moreover giving rise to employment relations governed by incomplete contracts -that firms pay extra wage premia to workers who: i) use digital technologies, provided they are versatile in the use of these new tools, ii) activate a bundle of distinctive 'generic' competencies, iii) possess personal traits considered by the firm as productive in carrying out work, and iv) occupy positions to which the organizational design attributes greater autonomy and more responsibilities. The wage equation used controls for several detailed factors (firm characteristics, occupations, worker characteristics, working and contract conditions, industrial relations) and was estimated with weighted OLS, also controlling for heteroskedasticity. Endogeneity was tested with GMM estimators.

Cette étude de cas régional porte sur les effets de la formation sur l'ajustement de marché du travail suite à des licenciements de grande ampleur dans la communauté minière d'Elliot Lake dans le nord de l'Ontario. A l'aide de données d'enquête longitudinales, nous montrons que les programmes de formation ont eu, pris dans l'ensemble, des bénéfices limités pour les travailleurs qui ont perdu leur emploi, même si les programmes de plus longue durée au niveau collégial semblent être plus efficaces. Ceci n'implique pas toutefois qu'il faille réduire les dépenses de formation car elles peuvent avoir des bénéfices sociaux et psychologiques importants pour les travailleurs qui ont perdu leur emploi ainsi que leurs familles. Cet article est une critique de l'approche contemporaine qui fait de la formation le principal outil d'ajustement, du moins de la façon dont elle a été utilisée dans les communautés qui dépendent d'une seule industrie comme Elliot Lake. This is a regional case study of the effects of training on labour market adjustment following mass layoffs in a single-industry mining community, Elliot Lake in Northern Ontario. Based on longitudinal survey data we find that training programs as a whole had limited benefits to the laid-off workers, particularly in terms of reemployment, although longer-duration programs at the college level appeared more effective. This is not a call to cut funding for training, which can have important social and psychological benefits for laid-off workers and their families; but it is a criticism of the current approach that makes training the principal focus of adjustment policy, at least as it plays out in single-industry communities like Elliot Lake.

The food processing industry in Bihar holds immense potential for driving sustainable economic growth, particularly in districts like Muzaffarpur, which is globally renowned for its Shahi Litchi production. Despite being an agrarian state with abundant fruit, vegetable, and cereal cultivation, Bihar continues to face high levels of post-harvest losses due to inadequate infrastructure, limited cold chain facilities, and weak market linkages. Muzaffarpur, with its unique agricultural profile, offers opportunities for value addition through litchi pulp, juice, and allied products, which can significantly enhance farmers' incomes and generate rural employment. This study explores the prospects and challenges of food processing in Bihar with a special reference to Muzaffarpur. It highlights how government initiatives such as the Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (PMKSY) and the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) scheme have provided policy support, yet gaps remain in finance, technology adoption, and entrepreneurship development. The analysis underscores that sustainable growth in this sector requires integrated supply chains, investment in modern processing units, promotion of farmer-producer organizations (FPOs), and regional branding of products like Shahi Litchi. The findings suggest that strengthening food processing in Muzaffarpur can serve as a model for Bihar's agrobased economy by reducing wastage, enhancing export potential, and ensuring inclusive development. Thus, the district stands as both a challenge and an opportunity in Bihar's pathway toward sustainable growth in the food processing sector.

When Work Moved Home, Did Prices Follow? The COVID-19 pandemic didn't just change where people work, it may have fundamentally redrawn England's housing map.

This study investigates one of the most consequential, yet under-explored, side effects of the remote work revolution: its role in reshaping regional house prices across England between 2020 and 2025. As millions of workers shed their daily commutes, did housing demand quietly migrate with them, pushing prices upward in places long overshadowed by London?

Using a rigorous two-way fixed-effects regression model applied to data from the ONS, the UK House Price Index, and the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, this research uncovers a statistically significant link between remote working prevalence and regional house price growth. The pattern is striking, regions with higher work-from-home rates saw faster price appreciation, even after controlling for earnings and regional characteristics. Crucially, the effect was most pronounced outside London and strongest in the immediate post-pandemic window, suggesting a structural, not merely cyclical, shift in residential preferences toward space and affordability.

The implications stretch well beyond economics. If remote work is quietly amplifying spatial inequality, then housing policy, regional planning, and digital infrastructure investment can no longer be designed in isolation from labour market trends.

For researchers in housing economics, urban geography, labour markets, or public policy, this paper offers timely empirical evidence at the intersection of work, place, and inequality, and raises urgent questions about who benefits when work becomes untethered from location.

also contribute to greater gender pay equality. However, in view of the aggregate employment decline and very limited availability of decent jobs in Moldova, the effectiveness of these supply-side measures in improving labor market outcomes is limited if they are not accompanied by policies to support creation of more and higher-productivity private sector jobs. -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Keyboard operators Production managers in agriculture, forestry and fisheries Refuse workers Chemical and photographic products plant and machine… Waiters and bartenders Material-recording and transport clerks Vehicle, window, laundry and other hand cleaning… Other teaching professionals Client information workers Painters, building structure cleaners and related trades… Medical and pharmaceutical technicians Vocational education teachers Regulatory government associate professionals Animal producers Sales and purchasing agents and brokers Other health associate professionals Other sales workers Change in female share in 2006-2016 (p.p.) Female share in 2016 (%)

also contribute to greater gender pay equality. However, in view of the aggregate employment decline and very limited availability of decent jobs in Moldova, the effectiveness of these supply-side measures in improving labor market outcomes is limited if they are not accompanied by policies to support creation of more and higher-productivity private sector jobs. -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Keyboard operators Production managers in agriculture, forestry and fisheries Refuse workers Chemical and photographic products plant and machine… Waiters and bartenders Material-recording and transport clerks Vehicle, window, laundry and other hand cleaning… Other teaching professionals Client information workers Painters, building structure cleaners and related trades… Medical and pharmaceutical technicians Vocational education teachers Regulatory government associate professionals Animal producers Sales and purchasing agents and brokers Other health associate professionals Other sales workers Change in female share in 2006-2016 (p.p.) Female share in 2016 (%)

The growth of small informal enterprises is of utmost importance, as they are widely recognised as a crucial source of employment and income in many developing countries. This article examines the factors driving firm growth in the informal manufacturing sector, based on data from a survey of 205 enterprises in Assam, Northeast India. Using a multinomial logit regression model, the study reveals that several factors related to both the entrepreneur and the enterprise significantly influence growth. Entrepreneurs with formal education are more likely to experience business growth, highlighting the importance of education in enhancing entrepreneurial skills. The research also finds a positive link between female ownership and firm growth, indicating that women-led businesses are more likely to grow. In terms of enterprise characteristics, the research shows that larger firms tend to experience higher growth compared to smaller ones. Similarly, businesses that maintain proper financial records are more likely to achieve growth, emphasising the importance of financial management. The study also identifies low product demand as a significant constraint on growth, limiting expansion opportunities for these enterprises.

OECD Working Papers should not be reported as representing the official views of the OECD or of its member countries. The opinions expressed and arguments employed are those of the author(s). Working Papers describe preliminary results or research in progress by the author(s) and are published to stimulate discussion on a broad range of issues on which the OECD works. Comments on Working Papers are welcomed, and may be sent to

The labour market in Estonia is volatile, increasing the risk that groups with some obstacles to enter the labour market (youth, non-Estonian speakers and workers with no upper secondary graduation certificate) may become long-term unemployed, due to the aggravating skills mismatch in the wake of structural change. Avoiding a permanent exit from the labour force makes a multi-pronged strategy necessary, including strengthening activation policies, a better school-to-job transition, improving the cooperation with employers to improve vocational training programmes, stepping up targeting life-long learning support, and improving the access of tertiary studies for students from weak social backgrounds. This Working Paper relates to the 2012 OECD Economic Survey of Estonia, www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/estonia2012.htm.

OECD Working Papers should not be reported as representing the official views of the OECD or of its member countries. The opinions expressed and arguments employed are those of the author(s). Working Papers describe preliminary results or research in progress by the author(s) and are published to stimulate discussion on a broad range of issues on which the OECD works. Comments on Working Papers are welcomed, and may be sent to

OECD Working Papers should not be reported as representing the official views of the OECD or of its member countries. The opinions expressed and arguments employed are those of the author(s). Working Papers describe preliminary results or research in progress by the author(s) and are published to stimulate discussion on a broad range of issues on which the OECD works. Comments on Working Papers are welcomed, and may be sent to

The labour market in Estonia is volatile, increasing the risk that groups with some obstacles to enter the labour market (youth, non-Estonian speakers and workers with no upper secondary graduation certificate) may become long-term unemployed, due to the aggravating skills mismatch in the wake of structural change. Avoiding a permanent exit from the labour force makes a multi-pronged strategy necessary, including strengthening activation policies, a better school-to-job transition, improving the cooperation with employers to improve vocational training programmes, stepping up targeting life-long learning support, and improving the access of tertiary studies for students from weak social backgrounds. This Working Paper relates to the 2012 OECD Economic Survey of Estonia, www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/estonia2012.htm.

This paper provides new evidence on the linkages between a large array of institutional arrangements (on product, labour and financial markets) and employment performance. Our analysis includes unemployment, inactivity and jobless rates, thus allowing us to control for possible substitution effects across situations of non-employment and to check whether institutional rigidities affecting unemployment impact inactivity along the same line. To cope with common problems related to the inclusion of time-invariant institutional variables in fixed effects models, we present results of regressions based on three different estimators: PCSE, GLS and FEVD, the last one being a new procedure specifically designed to treat slowly changing variables. We build time series data to account for annual evolution of employment protection legislation (EPL), and use new data for unemployment insurance net replacement rates. Moreover, we check for interdependencies across product and labour markets legislation by investigating the marginal impact of selected institutional variables. Among other results, we find evidence of a positive effect of EPL on employment performance as well as of a substitutability relationship across product and labour markets regulation policies.

wiiw publishes a detailed study on occupational mobility and job-skills mismatch of the recent wave of refugees from the Middle East (predominantly from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran) in the Austrian labour market. The study is based on two waves of an extensive survey of refugees conducted between December 2017 and May 2019, comprising 1,600 and 2,400 respondents respectively. The following are the key findings: (i) Occupational mobility analysis suggests a steep decline in 'occupational status' when comparing the last job in the home country and the first job attained in Austria, and a slight recovery afterwards-a 'mirror J' pattern. (ii) The initial decline is particularly strong for persons with tertiary degrees, and for those who worked as professionals, senior officials and managers before leaving their home countries. (iii) Occupational trajectories of female refugees differ from those of their male counterparts in that they experience a steeper occupational downgrade between their last job in the home country and first job in Austria and there is little evidence of an occupational recovery after the initial drop. (iv) In both waves of the survey, about 60% of the respondents regard themselves as 'overqualified' in their current employment; a higher share of males than of females in this self-assessment think of themselves as 'overqualified'. The share of those who think they are 'overqualified' jumps to 70-74% among those with higher educational attainment levels.

This paper estimates conditional demand models and, using a joint approach for the period 2008-2017, examines the impact of immigration and different measures of offshoring on the labour demand and demand elasticities of native workers in four different types of occupational groups: managers/professionals, clerical workers, craft (skilled) workers and manual workers. The analysis is conducted using data for four EU economies: Austria, Belgium, France and Spain. Our results point to important and occupation-specific direct and indirect effects of immigration and offshoring. Both offshoring -particularly services offshoring -and immigration have negative direct employment effects on all occupations, but native clerks and manual workers are affected the most, and native managers/professionals the least. Generally, offshoring exerts a stronger direct negative employment effect than does immigration. Our results also identify an important (labour demand) elasticity-channel of immigration and offshoring and show that some groups of native workers can also actually gain from globalisation through an improvement in their wage-bargaining position. Overall, our results indicate a deterioration in the bargaining power of native manual workers arising from both immigration and offshoring; an improvement in the bargaining position of native craft workers in the case of both immigration and offshoring; and an improvement in the bargaining position of native clerical workers and managers/professionals in the case of offshoring only. Finally, our analysis of the cross-effects of immigration highlights the important role of migrant managers/professionals for the labour demand and demand elasticities (bargaining power) of native clerical workers, craft and manual workers.

Summary This paper presents a descriptive account of labour mobility across the EU economies. The focus of the paper is on different patterns between migrants (‘foreign born’) and natives with regard to mobility, exploring in particular the potential of migrants to ‘grease the wheels’ (Borjas, 2001) of labour markets by either themselves showing higher mobility rates or impacting on the mobility patterns of natives or existing migrants themselves. The main indicators examined are the gross mobility and net employment creation rates (GERR and NECR respectively) taken over from Davis and Haltiwanger (1992, 1999). This paper contains a descriptive assessment while a companion paper (Landesmann and Leitner, 2015) undertakes an econometric analysis of the determinants of mobility patterns. We differentiate between the EU-15 and the NMS-8 and further between sub-regions (OMS-North, OMS-South, NMS-Central, Baltics). We analyse differences in mobility patterns in OMS and NMS as regards age ...

Two Forces of ‘Globalisation’ and Their Impact on Labour Markets in Western Europe 2005-2014 This paper investigates with a joint approach the impact of immigration and different measures of ‘offshoring’ on the labour demand and demand elasticities of native workers in four different occupational groups managers/professionals, clerks, craft workers and manual workers. It shows that of all measures of globalisation considered immigration has the most consistent and strongest negative effect on the employment of native workers, particularly on managers/professionals, clerks and manual workers. The employment effects of offshoring differ by the measure used and are positive for craft workers but, in contrast to what is typically found in the literature, negative for the high-skilled group of managers/professionals. Furthermore, immigration and offshoring both impact on natives’ labour demand elasticities but the effect differs by occupational group. Thus, while the immigration of craft...

The architecture of ancient ceramic workshops is, probably because of the lack of monumentality, one of the least studied, both from a typological perspective and in terms of the analysis of the investment required (in material and human resources) for the construction of kilns, ateliers, basins and other facilities. This deficit is particularly noticeable in the case of the Iron Age workshops of southern Iberia, which are less numerous and less thoroughly studied than the Roman ones, with exceptions such as the Bay of Cádiz. Taking Gadir and its insular territory as case study, where a significant number of sites provide well-preserved indicators of kilns and other artisanal structures, the aim of this contribution is to examine the construction techniques of the ceramic kilns of these workshops, their evolution over time and, above all, the different types, sizes and construction materials used and their correlation with different levels of investment and costs for the implementation of these facilities. Thus, based on the study of several examples excavated at Camposoto, Torre Alta and other sites, as well as considering the results of recent experimental research, the paper discussed new hypotheses on the impact of each typology on the local economy and the relationship between the evolution of the building techniques and changes in the production of foodstuffs packed in amphorae.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has quickly become more than a technical facilitator to a strategic weapon of narrative competition, but empirical studies on how audiences in the Global South make sense of competing state discourses of AI-enabled digital warfare have yet to be conducted. The paper explores the exposure and perceptions of Pakistani university students to the United States and Iranian stories that AI becomes a digital warfare weapon in 2026. Using a stratified random sample, we sampled 400 undergraduate and postgraduate students in four major Lahore universities

This paper studies the interlinked relationship between globalisation and technological upgrading in affecting employment and wages of skilled and unskilled workers in a middle income developing country. It exploits a unique longitudinal firm-level database that covers all manufacturing firms in Turkey over the 1992-2001 period. Turkey is taken as an example of a developing economy that, in that period, had been technologically advancing and becoming increasingly integrated with the world market. The empirical analysis is performed at firm level within a dynamic framework using a model that depicts the employment and wage trends for skilled and unskilled workers separately. In particular, the System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM-SYS) procedure is applied to a panel dataset of about 15,000 firms. Our results confirm the theoretical expectation that developing countries face the phenomena of skillbiased technological change and skill-enhancing trade, both leading to increasing the employment and wage gap between skilled and unskilled workers. In particular, a strong evidence of a relative skill bias emerges: both domestic and imported technologies increase the relative demand for skilled workers more than the demand for the unskilled. "Learning by exporting" also appears to have a relative skillbiased impact, while FDI imply an absolute skill bias.

We construct an equilibrium job search model with on-the-job search in which firms implement optimal-wage strategies under full information in the sense that they leave no rent to their employees and counter the offers received by their employees from competing firms. Productivity dispersion across firms results in wage mobility both within and across firms. Workers may accept wage cuts to move to firms offering higher future wage prospects. Equilibrium productivity dispersion across ex ante homogeneous firms can be endogenously generated. Productivity dispersion then generates a nontrivial wage distribution which is generically thin-tailed, as typically observed in the data.

sequential auction model is extended to allow for aggregate productivity shocks. Workers exhibit permanent differences in ability and firms are identical. The model first predicts that negative productivity shocks may induce job destruction by driving the surplus of matches with low ability workers to negative values. Endogenous job destruction coupled with worker heterogeneity thus provides a mechanism for amplifying productivity shocks that offers an original solution to the unemployment volatility puzzle . Second, positive or negative shocks may lead employers and employees to renegotiate low wages up and high wages down when agents' individual surpluses become negative. The model thus delivers a rich business cycle dynamics of wage distributions that allows to explain why both low wages and high wages are more procyclical than wages in the middle of the distribution and why wage inequality may be countercyclical, as the data seem to suggest is true.

sequential auction model is extended to allow for aggregate productivity shocks. Workers exhibit permanent differences in ability while firms are identical. Negative aggregate productivity shocks induce job destruction by driving the surplus of matches with low ability workers to negative values. Endogenous job destruction coupled with worker heterogeneity thus provides a mechanism for amplifying productivity shocks that offers an original solution to the unemployment volatility puzzle (Shimer ( )). Moreover, positive or negative shocks may lead employers and employees to renegotiate low wages up and high wages down when agents' individual surpluses become negative. The model delivers rich business cycle dynamics of wage distributions and explains why both low wages and high wages are more procyclical than wages in the middle of the distribution.

August 2011 * Earlier versions of this paper were circulated since 2006 under the title "A Feasible Equilibrium Search Model of Individual Wage Dynamics with Experience Accumulation". This paper took a long time to finalize partly due to the difficulty in constructing Matched Employer-Employee data including firm-level productivity data, an essential ingredient of this project. We are grateful to Joe Altonji, Henning Bunzel, Ken Burdett and Melvyn Coles, as well as participants in numerous seminars and conferences for useful comments at various stages of this project. The usual disclaimer applies.

Comments by one anonymous referee and the editor were particularly helpful. We wish to thank the Stockholm-2001 SED meeting participants, as well as seminar participants at the University of Essex, the Tinbergen Institute and the Université de Paris-I for encouraging comments. We are particularly indebted to Dale Mortensen and the referee for pointing out errors in earlier versions of this paper.

This Discussion Paper is issued under the auspices of the Centre's research programme in LABOUR ECONOMICS. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and not those of the Centre for Economic Policy Research. Research disseminated by CEPR may include views on policy, but the Centre itself takes no institutional policy positions. The Centre for Economic Policy Research was established in 1983 as a private educational charity, to promote independent analysis and public discussion of open economies and the relations among them. It is pluralist and non-partisan, bringing economic research to bear on the analysis of medium-and long-run policy questions. Institutional (core) finance for the Centre has been provided through major grants from the Economic and Social Research Council, under which an ESRC Resource Centre operates within CEPR; the Esmée Fairbairn Charitable Trust; and the Bank of England. These organizations do not give prior review to the Centre's publications, nor do they necessarily endorse the views expressed therein. These Discussion Papers often represent preliminary or incomplete work, circulated to encourage discussion and comment. Citation and use of such a paper should take account of its provisional character.

We construct and estimate an equilibrium search model with on-the-job-search. Firms make take-it-or-leave-it wage offers to workers conditional on their characteristics and they can respond to the outside job offers received by their employees. Unobserved worker productive heterogeneity is introduced in the form of cross-worker differences in a "competence" parameter. On the other side of the market, Þrms also are heterogeneous with respect to their marginal productivity of labor. The model delivers a theory of steadystate wage dispersion driven by heterogenous worker abilities and Þrm productivities, as well as by matching frictions. The structural model is estimated using matched employer and employee French panel data. The exogenous distributions of worker and Þrm heterogeneity components are non parametrically estimated. We use this structural estimation to provide a decomposition of cross-employee wage variance. We Þnd that the share of the cross-sectional wage variance that is explained by person effects varies across skill groups. SpeciÞcally, this share lies close to 40% for high-skilled white collars, and quickly decreases to 0% as the observed skill level decreases. The contribution of market imperfections to wage dispersion is typically around 50%.

We develop and estimate an equilibrium job search model of worker careers, allowing for human capital accumulation, employer heterogeneity, and individual-level shocks. Wage growth is decomposed into contributions of human capital and job search, within and between jobs. Human capital accumulation is largest for highly educated workers. The contribution from job search to wage growth, both within and between jobs, declines over the first ten years of a career—the “job-shopping” phase of a working life—after which workers settle into high-quality jobs using outside offers to generate gradual wage increases, thus reaping the benefits from competition between employers. (JEL J24, J31, J63, J64)

We construct an equilibrium job search model with on-the-job search in which firms implement optimal-wage strategies under full information in the sense that they leave no rent to their employees and counter the offers received by their employees from competing firms. Productivity dispersion across firms results in wage mobility both within and across firms. Workers may accept wage cuts to move to firms offering higher future wage prospects. Equilibrium productivity dispersion across ex ante homogeneous firms can be endogenously generated. Productivity dispersion then generates a nontrivial wage distribution which is generically thin-tailed, as typically observed in the data.

This paper examines the effects of alternative policies on the distribution of education in both partial and general equilibrium. Empirical evidence suggests a link between human capital (HC) accumula-tion and wages dispersion, so that policies affecting education outcomes ...

In this paper, we develop a model of wage dynamics and employment mobility with unrestricted interactions between worker and firm unobserved characteristics in both wages and employment mobility. We adopt the finite mixture approach of . The model is estimated on Danish matched employer-employee data for the period 1985-2013. The estimation includes gender, education, age, tenure and time controls. We find significant sorting on wages and it is stable over the period. Sorting is established early in careers, increasing during the first decade after which it declines steadily. Job-to-job mobility displays a "mean-reverting" pattern that maintains correlations between worker and firm types to a stationary level. Counterfactuals demonstrate that sorting is primarily driven by two channels: First, a "preference" channel whereby higher wage workers are more likely to accept jobs in higher wage firms. Second, a job finding channel where the job destination distribution out of non-employment is stochastically increasing in the wage type of the worker.

In this paper, we develop a model of wage dynamics and employment mobility with unrestricted interactions between worker and firm unobserved characteristics in both wages and employment mobility. We adopt the finite mixture approach of Bonhomme et al. (2017). The model is estimated on Danish matched employer-employee data for the period 1985-2013. The estimation includes gender, education, age, tenure and time controls. We find significant sorting on wages and it is stable over the period. Sorting is established early in careers, increasing during the first decade after which it declines steadily. Job-to-job mobility displays a ?mean-reverting? pattern that maintains correlations between worker and firm types to a stationary level. Counterfactuals demonstrate that sorting is primarily driven by two channels: First, a ?preference? channel whereby higher wage workers are more likely to accept jobs in higher wage firms. Second, a job finding channel where the job destination distributi...

This paper examines the complex relationship between economic growth and youth unemployment in South Africa using annual time series data from 2000 to 2024. Despite experiencing periods of economic expansion, South Africa has maintained persistently high youth unemployment rates, with a mean of 53.036% during the study period, challenging conventional economic theories such as Okun's Law. The research employs a comprehensive methodological framework, including descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, distributed lag models, structural break tests, and robustness checks, to uncover the nuanced dynamics of this relationship. Key findings reveal a weak contemporaneous relationship between GDP growth and youth unemployment (Pearson r =-0.3468, R² = 0.1203), but significant lagged effects emerge when considering previous periods. A distributed lag model incorporating current and two lagged GDP growth terms explains 61.32% of youth unemployment variation, with a long-run multiplier of-2.2526, indicating that sustained 1% GDP growth leads to approximately 2.25% reduction in youth unemployment over time. Structural break analysis identifies 2019 as the most significant break point, suggesting that pre-COVID factors such as electricity crises and institutional decay have fundamentally altered the growth-unemployment nexus. The study demonstrates that while economic growth is necessary for youth job creation, it is insufficient alone to address South Africa's youth unemployment crisis. Policy scenario analysis projects that even optimistic 4% annual GDP growth would only reduce youth unemployment to 49.2% by 2034. The research concludes that comprehensive strategies combining growth-oriented policies with targeted interventions addressing structural constraints particularly energy sector reforms, education and skills development, labour market interventions, and spatial development strategies are essential for meaningful progress in reducing youth unemployment. These findings contribute to the literature on labour market dynamics in developing economies and provide evidence-based insights for policymakers seeking to address one of South Africa's most pressing socioeconomic challenges. The study highlights the need for a multidimensional approach that recognizes the unique structural characteristics of the South African labour market and the time-lagged nature of employment responses to economic growth.

The paper discusses the specific conditions under which the likelihood of contractual hazards is reduced and organizational equilibrium is ensured between the two parties of a contingent employment relationship: the highly-skilled contractor and his/her client-firm. In particular, it identifies the institutional norms, technical affordances, legal jurisdictions and social formations, as the conditions that appear to curb the potential of opportunistic behavior on behalf of the contractor and operate as stabilizers of the asymmetrical employment relationship.

The paper discusses the specific conditions under which the likelihood of contractual hazards is reduced and organizational equilibrium is ensured between the two parties of a contingent employment relationship: the highly-skilled contractor and his/her client-firm. In particular, it identifies the institutional norms, technical affordances, legal jurisdictions and social formations, as the conditions that appear to curb the potential of opportunistic behavior on behalf of the contractor and operate as stabilizers of the asymmetrical employment relationship.

This Discussion Paper is issued within the framework of IZA's research area 7KH )XWXUH RI :RUN Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and not those of the institute. Research disseminated by IZA may include views on policy, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions. The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent, nonprofit limited liability company (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung) supported by the Deutsche Post AG. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its research networks, research support, and visitors and doctoral programs. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. The current research program deals with (1) mobility and flexibility of labor markets, (2) internationalization of labor markets and European integration, (3) the welfare state and labor markets, (4) labor markets in transition, (5) the future of work, (6) project evaluation and (7) general labor economics. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character.

This paper provides new evidence on the linkages between a large array of institutional arrangements (on product, labour and financial markets) and employment performance. Our analysis includes unemployment, inactivity and jobless rates, thus allowing us to control for possible substitution effects across situations of nonemployment and to check whether institutional rigidities affecting unemployment impact inactivity along the same line. To cope with common problems related to the inclusion of time-invariant institutional variables in fixed effects models, we present results of regressions based on three different estimators: PCSE, GLS and FEVD, the last one being a new procedure specifically designed to treat slowly changing variables. New institutional series are proposed, namely to account for unemployment insurance net replacement rates and employment protection legislation (EPL). Among other results, we find strong evidence of a positive effect of EPL on employment performance as well as of possible complementarities across product and labour markets regulation.

Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data, this article examines how the main dimensions of labour market legislation (employment protection, security in unemployment, collective bargaining and activation policies) changed in Portugal during the sovereign debt crisis from 2011 to 2014. We show that the reforms passed during the Troika years were qualitatively different to earlier reforms. Despite building upon previous trends, there were path-shifting changes. First, security in employment and in unemployment for standard workers (insiders) declined substantially. Second, a significant decentralisation of wage bargaining shifted the balance of power towards employers, while a move from joint to statutory regulation stalled social cooperation. Third, neither of these trends was offset by any relevant unemployment compensation strategy or activation effort targeted at outsiders: no recalibration occurred in a historically dualised labour market. The balance of power between employees and employers shifted towards the latter at the expense of the former. A worse situation for insiders and outsiders points to wide market flexibilisation and enduring segmentation at a lower level of security. The austerity-driven reforms brought the Portuguese labour market to a liberalized dualisation, signalling a new departure for Portuguese labour market relations.

This paper analyzes the impact of labor market competition and skill-biased technical change on the structure of compensation. The model combines multitasking and screening, embedded into a Hotelling-like framework. Competition for the most talented workers leads to an escalating reliance on performance pay and other high-powered incentives, thereby shifting effort away from less easily contractible tasks such as long-term investments, risk management and within-firm cooperation. Under perfect competition, the resulting efficiency loss can be larger than that imposed by a single firm or principal, who distorts incentives downward in order to extract rents. More generally, as declining market frictions lead employers to compete more aggressively, the monopsonistic underincentivization of low-skill agents first decreases, then gives way to a growing overincentivization of high-skill ones. Aggregate welfare is thus hill-shaped with respect to the competitiveness of the labor market, while inequality tends to rise monotonically. Bonus caps and income taxes can help restore balance in agents' incentives and behavior, but may generate their own set of distortions