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Table 1 Overview of selected institutional databases and composite indicators, labour market subcomponents

From: Composite indicators of labour market regulations in a comparative perspective

Name

Area covered

Period

Countries

Nature of the data

LM indicator: rationale

WEF GCI World Economic Forum, Global Competitiveness Index

Labour-employer relations, wage determination flexibility, hiring and firing practices, redundancy costs, pay and productivity, management role, brain drain, female participation

2004–2013, annual; earlier data on subcomponents without an index are available

Unbalanced panel: 104–144 countries

De facto, de jure, statistical data. Certain indicators are from an Executive Opinion Survey. Redundancy Costs and female participation indicators are based on EWI WB and ILO KILM, respectively.

“The efficiency and flexibility of the labour market are critical for ensuring that workers are allocated to their most effective use in the economy and provided with incentives to give their best effort in their jobs. Labour markets must therefore have the flexibility to shift workers from one economic activity to another rapidly and low cost, and to allow wage fluctuations without much social disruption”

IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook

Labour regulations (minimum wages, hiring/firing practices, etc.), unemployment legislation, immigration laws, and redundancy costs

1995–2012, annual

Unbalanced panel: 49–59 countries

De jure and de facto. Labour regulations and unemployment legislation are measured by Executive Opinion Survey questions; Redundancy Costs from EWI WB

No separate labour regulations indicator, but these questions are used to construct a broader Business Efficiency index. Its logic: measures “extent to which the national environment encourages enterprises to perform in an innovative, profitable, and responsible manner”.

Fraser EFW Frazer Institute Economic Freedom of the World index

Minimum wage, hiring and firing regulations, centralized collective bargaining, mandated cost of hiring, mandated cost of worker dismissal, hours regulation, conscription

Systematic annual data on most of the components from 2002. 5-year averages on some components for 1970–2000.

Unbalanced panel: 58–144 countries

De jure and de facto indicators coming from a range of sources, such as EWI WB, WEF, IMD, and War Resisters International survey

“Many types of labour- market regulations infringe on the economic freedom of employees and employers. Among the more prominent are minimum wages, dismissal regulations, centralized wage setting, extension of union contracts to non- participating parties, and conscription. The labour- market component is designed to measure the extent to which these restraints upon economic freedom are present”

EWI WB Employing Workers Index, World Bank

Rigidity of Employment index: Difficulty of Firing, Rigidity of Hours, redundancy rules; Redundancy Cost

2006–2013, annual

184 countries

De jure, based on a hypothetical case study; an overall summary indicator is a weighted average of 3 subindicators, with equal weights given to each; redundancy cost is reported separately

“Measures flexibility in the regulation of hiring, working hours and redundancy in a manner consistent with the ILO conventions”

  1. Source: own reading of data reports