Faithin Omaha eBook Collection

Download or read book Labor Market Dynamics, Informality and Regulations in Latin America written by Mr.Antonio David and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2020-01-31 with total page 27 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Labor markets in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are characterized by high levels of informality and relatively rigid regulation. This paper shows that these two features are related and together make the speed of adjustment of employment to shocks slower, especially when regulations are tightly enforced. Evidence suggests that strict labor market regulations also have an adverse effect on medium-term growth. While both regulations on prices (minimum wages) and quantities (employment protection) decrease the speed of adjustment to shocks, they appear to be binding in different phases of the cycle—the former affects mostly the (net) job creation margin and the latter the (net) job destruction margin. The results also highlight possible interactions between labor market regulations and the effectiveness of macro-stabilization tools—including exchange rate depreciation.