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Employment in Spanish regions: Cost control or growth-enhancing policies?

Author

Listed:
  • Roberto Bande

    (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela)

  • Marika Karanassou

    (Queen Mary University of London)

  • Hector Sala

    (Departament d'Economia Aplicada (UAB), IZA Fellow, Institute for the Study of Labor (Bonn))

Abstract
Spain provides an extreme case of unemployment rate oscillations (8.3% in 2007, 26.1% in 2013, 19.6% in 2016) in parallel with cute regional persistance in labour market outcomes - the sets of relatively high and low unemployment regions have not changed in decades. Since generic labour market reforms have been fruitless in this respect, we explore whether such groups of regions react differently to key drivers of employment and wage setting. We find that the low income (high unemployment) regions are more reactive to capital accumulation, and thus to a growth strategy based on estimulating investment. In turn, the high income (low employment) ones are more sensitive to the wage-productivity gap, and thus to the strategy that keeps unit labour costs (ULC) low. Such patterns call for more region-specific policies and discard standard labour market reforms as a unique tool to manage the unemployment rate problem. Further, to the extent that investment serves both at fostering capital accumulation and labour productivity (which, in turn, reduces the ULC), regionally-targeted soft credit lines and capital taxes could be helpful in breaking regional sluggishness.

Suggested Citation

  • Roberto Bande & Marika Karanassou & Hector Sala, 2017. "Employment in Spanish regions: Cost control or growth-enhancing policies?," Working Papers 834, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    • Handle: RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:834
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    2. Álvarez de Toledo, Pablo & Núñez, Fernando & Usabiaga, Carlos, 2020. "Matching in segmented labor markets: An analytical proposal based on high-dimensional contingency tables," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 175-186.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Employment; Wage setting; Labour income share; Capital stock;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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