Labor disputes and labor flows

Arbeitspapier

About one in four workers challenges her dismissal in front of a labor court in France. Using a data set of individual labor disputes brought to French courts over the years 1996 to 2003, we examine the impact of labor court activity on labor market flows. First, we present a simple theoretical model showing the links between judicial costs and judicial case outcomes. Second, we exploit our model as well as the French institutional setting to generate instruments for these endogenous outcomes. In particular, we use shocks in the supply of lawyers who resettle close to their university of origin. Using these instruments, we show that labor court decisions have a causal effect on labor flows. More trials and more cases won by the workers cause more job destructions. More settlements, higher filing rates, and a larger fraction of workers represented by a lawyer dampen job destructions. Various robustness checks confirm these findings.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 5677

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions ; Labor-Management Relations; Industrial Jurisprudence ; Labor Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs ; Labor Law
• Subject: employment protection legislation ; labor flows ; labor judges ; unfair dismissal ; France

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Fraisse, Henri ; Kramarz, Francis ; Prost, Corinne
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2011

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/52082
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-201105173139
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET