advanced search
advanced search
register
advanced search

Evidence-based policy making

IZA World of Labor is an online platform that provides policy analysts, journalists, academics and society generally with relevant and concise information on labor market issues. Based on the latest research, it provides current thinking on labor markets worldwide in a clear and accessible style. IZA World of Labor aims to support evidence-based policy making and increase awareness of labor market issues, including current concerns like the impact of Covid-19, and longer-term problems like inequality.

View our content on Covid-19—Pandemics and the labor market

featured article

Should severance pay be consistent for all workers?
Single, open-ended contracts with severance pay smoothly rising with seniority can decrease both unemployment and job losses

J. Ignacio García Pérez

The trend towards labor market flexibility in Europe has typically involved introducing legislation that makes it easier for firms to issue temporary contracts with low firing costs, while not changing the level of protection that is in place for permanent jobs. This has created a strong “dualism” in some European labor markets, which might affect turnover, wage setting, and human capital accumulation. In view of this, some economists propose replacing the existing system of temporary and permanent contracts by a single open-ended contract for new hires, with severance pay smoothly increasing with tenure on the job.

MoreLess
latest articles

  • How should job displacement wage losses be insured?Updated

    Wage losses upon re-employment can seriously harm long-tenured displaced workers if they are not properly insured

    Donald O. Parsons, July 2023
    Job displacement represents a serious earnings risk to long-tenured workers through lower re-employment wages, and these losses may persist for many years. Moreover, this risk is often poorly insured, although not for a lack of policy interest. To reduce this risk, most countries mandate scheduled wage insurance (severance pay), although it is provided only voluntarily in others, including the US. Actual-loss wage insurance is uncommon, although perceived difficulties may be overplayed. Both approaches offer the hope of greater consumption smoothing, with actual-loss plans carrying greater promise, but more uncertainty, of success.
    MoreLess

  • Instruction time and educational outcomes

    The quality of instruction and the activities it replaces determine the success of increased instruction time

    Andrés Barrios Fernández, July 2023
    Increasing instruction time might seem a simple way to improve students' outcomes. However, there is substantial variation in its effects reported in the literature. When focusing on school day extensions, some studies find no effects, while others find that an additional hour of daily instruction significantly improves test scores. A similar pattern arises when examining the effect of additional days of class. These mixed findings likely reflect differences in the quality of instruction or in the activities that are being replaced by additional instruction. Hence these elements need to be considered when designing policies that increase instruction time.
    MoreLess

  • How to support adult caregivers?

    Caregiving for older adults is detrimental to caregivers’ well-being and requires policy interventions to support them

    Joan Costa-Font, June 2023
    Some studies estimate that the value of time spent on unpaid caregiving is 2.7% of the GDP of the EU. Such a figure exceeds what EU countries spend on formal long-term care as a share of GDP (1.5%). Adult caregiving can exert significant harmful effects on the well-being of caregivers and can exacerbate the existing gender inequalities in employment. To overcome the detrimental cognitive costs of fulfilling the duty of care to older adults, focus should be placed on the development of support networks, providing caregiving subsidies, and enhancing labor market legislation that brings flexibility and level-up pay.
    MoreLess

  • The widespread impacts of remittance flowsUpdated

    Remittances have the potential to lift developing economies

    Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes Susan Pozo, May 2023
    Remittances have risen spectacularly in absolute terms and in relation to traditional sources of foreign exchange, such as export revenues. Remittances can improve the well-being of family members left behind and boost growth rates of receiving economies. They can also create a culture of dependency, lowering labor force participation in recipient nations, promoting conspicuous consumption, and accelerating environmental degradation. A more thorough understanding of their impacts can help formulate policies that enable developing economies to harness the most out of these monetary inflows.
    MoreLess

  • Unions and investment in intangible capitalUpdated

    When workers and firms cannot commit to long-term contracts and capital investments are sunk, union power can reduce investment

    Gabriele Cardullo Giovanni Sulis, May 2023
    Although coverage of collective bargaining agreements has been declining for decades in most countries, it is still extensive, especially in non-Anglo-Saxon countries. Strong unions may influence firms' incentives to invest in capital, particularly in sectors where capital investments are sunk (irreversible), as in research-intensive sectors. Whether unions affect firms' investment in capital depends on the structure and coordination of bargaining, the preference of unions between wages and employment, the quality of labor-management relations, the structure of corporate governance, and the existence of social pacts, among other factors.
    MoreLess

  • Eliminating discrimination in hiring isn’t enough

    Firms interested in workplace diversity should consider the post-hiring stage and why some minority employees choose to leave

    Mackenzie Alston, May 2023
    While many firms have recognized the importance of recruiting and hiring diverse job applicants, they should also pay attention to the challenges newly hired diverse candidates may face after entering the company. It is possible that they are being assessed by unequal or unequitable standards compared to their colleagues, and they may not have sufficient access to opportunities and resources that would benefit them. These disparities could affect the career trajectory, performance, satisfaction, and retention of minority employees. Potential solutions include randomizing task assignments and creating inclusive networking and support opportunities.
    MoreLess

  • Maternity leave versus early childcare—What are the long-term consequences for children?Updated

    Despite increasingly generous parental leave schemes their advantages over subsidized childcare remain unclear

    Nabanita Datta Gupta Jonas Jessen, May 2023
    There is growing agreement among parents in high-income countries that having a working mother does not harm a preschool child. Yet, research is ongoing on what the long-term effects on children are of being looked after at home (primarily by their mothers) or in childcare. Most studies find positive effects of childcare on child outcomes for children from disadvantaged backgrounds and moderate effects for children from more advantaged backgrounds. Policymakers need to improve compensation and the working environment for the sector if a high quality level is to be achieved and if the beneficial effects are to be maintained.
    MoreLess

  • Female education and its impact on fertilityUpdated

    Additional female educational attainment generally lowers fertility, but the relationship is complex

    Jungho Kim, May 2023
    The negative correlation between women's education and fertility has been observed across regions and time, although it is now weaker among high-income countries. Women's education level could affect fertility through its impact on women's health and their physical capacity to give birth, children's health, the number of children desired, and women's ability to control birth and knowledge of different birth control methods. Each of these mechanisms depends on the individual, institutional, and country circumstances experienced. Their relative importance may change along a country's economic development process.
    MoreLess
show more
Latest from the IZA Newsroom
Visit the IZA Newsroom
commentary
events
  • Aug 29, 2023 - Aug 31, 2023

    WHO Global Evidence-to-Policy (E2P) Summit 2023

    Online

    The Evidence-to-Policy (E2P) field is rapidly changing and evolving. Join us at the World Health Organization
    (WHO) Global Evidence-to-Policy (E2P) Summit 2023 from 29-31 August 2023 to delve into the exciting
    world of E2P, explore the latest developments and be part of shaping its future together.

  • Sep 04, 2023 - Nov 06, 2023

    IZA/FCDO ONLINE Development Economics Course for South Asia

    Online

    The biggest puzzle in economics is why fundamentally equal humans living in different countries enjoy very different standards of living. The aim of this course is to bring together the very latest research in development economics that tries to answer this puzzle.

  • Sep 15, 2023 - Sep 16, 2023

    Conference on Artificial Intelligence and the Economy

    Berlin, Germany

    The conference covers a broad range of topics related to the economics of artificial intelligence. It will bring together recent contributions in this area of research, including both theoretical and empirical papers. Relevant subjects include, but are not limited to

  • Sep 18, 2023 - Sep 19, 2023

    6th IDSC of IZA Workshop: Matching Workers and Jobs Online - New Developments and Opportunities for Social Science and Practice

    Online

    Like many forms of economic exchange, the process of matching workers to jobs has rapidly migrated online in the last two decades. Thus, understanding how online labor matching mechanisms work; how they affect economic outcomes like employment, wages and inequality; and learning how to take advantages of the ‘big data’ that are generated by online markets all have important implications for the future of labor.

  • Sep 21, 2023 - Sep 23, 2023

    EALE 2023 Conference

    Prague, Czech Republic

    You can submit your paper在这里.

  • Oct 01, 2023

    IZA/FCDO G²LM|LIC - Programme on Gender, Growth and Labour Markets in Low-Income Countries

    Online

    现正/ FCDO节目性别、增长和Labour Markets in Low-Income Countries (G²LM|LIC) marks the extension of the successful IZA/DFID cooperation, which started as the Growth and Labour Markets in Low-Income Countries (GLM|LIC) programme in 2011. The extension aims at building a significant new body of evidence on gender, growth, and labour markets to help shape gender and labour market policies in low-income countries. Collaboration with researchers from low-income countries is strongly encouraged.

show more