Employment protection legislation and SME performance

This study examines the effect of employment protection legislation (EPL) on firm performance. Using a panel dataset of 12,773 Belgian small and medium-sized firms between 2000 and 2009, we compute several company-specific measures of a firm’s exposure to EPL. The empirical results show that firms perform better when they are faced with less hiring and firing costs by employing more blue-collar workers than industry peers. Firms that attempt to be more flexible by hiring more temporary workers do not significantly outperform their competitors. In firms that set up a committee for prevention and protection at work, in which the employees are represented, hiring more blue-collars does not lead to a better performance. In these firms the difference between temporary and permanent workers gains in significance.

Jaar van publicatie:2017

BOF-keylabel:ja

IOF-keylabel:ja

BOF-publication weight:2

CSS-citation score:1

Authors from:Higher Education

Toegankelijkheid:Open