Absenteeism, unemployment and employment protection legislation: evidence from Italy

"Efficiency wages theories argue that the threat of firing, coupled with a high unemployment rate, is a mechanism that discourages employee shirking in asymmetric information contexts. Our empirical analysis aims to verify the role of unemployment as a worker discipline device, considering the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Scoppa, Vicenzo, Vuri, Daniela
Institution:ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
Format: TEXT
Language:English
Published: Munich 2013
CESifo
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19129033124919472159-absenteeism,-unemployment-and-.htm
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author Scoppa, Vicenzo
Vuri, Daniela
author_facet Scoppa, Vicenzo
Vuri, Daniela
collection Library items
description "Efficiency wages theories argue that the threat of firing, coupled with a high unemployment rate, is a mechanism that discourages employee shirking in asymmetric information contexts. Our empirical analysis aims to verify the role of unemployment as a worker discipline device, considering the different degree of job security offered by the Italian Employment Protection Legislation to workers employed in small and large firms. We use a panel of administrative data (WHIP) and consider sickness absences as an empirical proxy for employee shirking. Controlling for a number of individual and firm characteristics, we investigate the relationship between worker’s absences and local unemployment rate (at the provincial level). We find a strong negative impact of unemployment on absenteeism rate, which is considerable larger in small firms due to a significantly lower protection from dismissals in these firms. We also find that workers who are absent more frequently face higher risks of dismissal. As an indirect test of the role of unemployment as worker’s discipline device we show that public sector employees, almost impossible to fire, do not react to the local unemployment."
format TEXT
geographic Italy
id 19129033124919472159_891fb4567b1b4d64b2f1899eadc5d478
institution ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
is_hierarchy_id 19129033124919472159_891fb4567b1b4d64b2f1899eadc5d478
is_hierarchy_title Absenteeism, unemployment and employment protection legislation: evidence from Italy
language English
physical 35 p.
Digital
publishDate 2013
publisher Munich
CESifo
spellingShingle Scoppa, Vicenzo
Vuri, Daniela
absenteeism
employment security
legislation
unemployment
Absenteeism, unemployment and employment protection legislation: evidence from Italy
thumbnail https://www.labourline.org/Image_prev.jpg?Archive=111042493922
title Absenteeism, unemployment and employment protection legislation: evidence from Italy
topic absenteeism
employment security
legislation
unemployment
url https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19129033124919472159-absenteeism,-unemployment-and-.htm