Employment protection legislation, labor courts, and effective firing costs
Online veröffentlicht: 30. März 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/izajole-2020-0002
Schlüsselwörter
© 2020 Juan F. Jimeno, Marta Martínez-Matute, and Juan S. Mora-Sanguinetti, published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Figure A1

Dismissals: initiation, settlements and effective firing costs
Truthful dismissals | Disguised | ||
---|---|---|---|
Economic | Disciplinary | As economic | |
Always | |||
Always | |||
If settled | |||
At labor court |
Main descriptive statistics by province
Court rulings | Unemployment rate Unemployment rate (national value) shows the average rate of unemployment for the full period. Provincial values represent differences from that national average. | Profitability | Temporary employment rate | Log number workers under collective dismissals | Proportion of companies with more than 200 employees | Out-of-court settlements ratio | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
National (full period) | 0.2603 | 0.1630 | 0.0398 | 0.2805 | 8.5692 | 0.0016 | 0.5258 |
Provincial deviations from the mean | |||||||
ALMERIA | –0.0499 | 0.0651 | –0.0398 | 0.1884 | –2.2744 | –0.0003 | –0.1314 |
CADIZ | 0.0138 | 0.1045 | –0.0398 | 0.0734 | –0.8296 | –0.0008 | 0.0163 |
CORDOBA | 0.0464 | 0.0797 | 0.0112 | 0.1339 | –1.8571 | –0.0008 | –0.0626 |
GRANADA | 0.0008 | 0.0719 | –0.0218 | 0.1137 | –1.7881 | –0.0008 | –0.0729 |
HUELVA | –0.0256 | 0.0708 | 0.0082 | 0.1877 | –2.4510 | –0.0005 | –0.0397 |
JAEN | 0.0378 | 0.0734 | 0.1524 | 0.0942 | –1.2823 | –0.0010 | –0.0181 |
MALAGA | –0.0025 | 0.0671 | –0.0398 | 0.0617 | –0.7456 | –0.0008 | –0.1051 |
SEVILLA | 0.0059 | 0.0594 | –0.0105 | 0.0997 | –0.5248 | –0.0002 | 0.0468 |
HUESCA | 0.0138 | –0.0616 | –0.0013 | –0.0300 | –1.9673 | –0.0010 | –0.4078 |
TERUEL | 0.0904 | –0.0592 | 0.0579 | –0.0414 | –1.7696 | –0.0008 | –0.4256 |
ZARAGOZA | –0.0450 | –0.0350 | –0.0340 | –0.0355 | 0.6255 | 0.0001 | –0.3313 |
ASTURIAS | 0.0599 | –0.0184 | –0.0168 | –0.0185 | 0.5581 | –0.0004 | –0.1168 |
ILLES BALEARS | –0.0159 | –0.0128 | –0.0398 | –0.0033 | –1.1640 | –0.0004 | –0.2505 |
LAS PALMAS | –0.0479 | 0.0682 | –0.0349 | 0.0565 | –0.8650 | 0.0000 | 0.0090 |
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE | –0.0740 | 0.0469 | –0.0268 | 0.0523 | –1.0567 | –0.0003 | 0.0172 |
CANTABRIA | 0.0009 | –0.0396 | –0.0171 | –0.0321 | 0.0364 | –0.0004 | –0.1808 |
AVILA | –0.1109 | 0.0036 | 0.1450 | –0.0120 | –2.4403 | –0.0012 | 0.0710 |
BURGOS | 0.0685 | –0.0400 | –0.0141 | –0.0599 | –0.4829 | –0.0001 | 0.0105 |
LEON | –0.0226 | –0.0167 | 0.0074 | –0.0229 | –0.6166 | –0.0010 | –0.1287 |
PALENCIA | 0.1060 | –0.0307 | 0.0070 | –0.0552 | –1.2430 | –0.0006 | –0.1260 |
SALAMANCA | 0.0079 | –0.0132 | 0.0365 | –0.0260 | –1.9131 | –0.0009 | –0.1264 |
SEGOVIA | 0.0425 | –0.0445 | –0.0300 | –0.0474 | –2.6397 | –0.0009 | –0.0417 |
SORIA | 0.0364 | –0.0647 | –0.0183 | –0.0622 | –2.4441 | –0.0006 | 0.0631 |
VALLADOLID | 0.0287 | –0.0293 | 0.0131 | –0.0296 | 0.1799 | –0.0002 | –0.0310 |
ZAMORA | –0.0164 | –0.0067 | 0.3171 | –0.0001 | –2.7065 | –0.0013 | –0.1014 |
ALBACETE | –0.0105 | 0.0239 | 0.0635 | 0.0158 | –1.3802 | –0.0009 | –0.1099 |
CIUDAD REAL | 0.0180 | 0.0287 | 1.4123 | 0.0313 | –2.0382 | –0.0011 | –0.0253 |
CUENCA | 0.0355 | –0.0104 | 0.2768 | –0.0016 | –2.7461 | –0.0012 | 0.0532 |
GUADALAJARA | –0.0221 | –0.0247 | 0.0173 | –0.0453 | –2.3618 | –0.0004 | –0.0141 |
TOLEDO | –0.0784 | 0.0195 | 0.1394 | 0.0290 | –1.4898 | –0.0010 | –0.0018 |
BARCELONA | –0.0314 | –0.0210 | –0.0398 | –0.0822 | 2.0148 | 0.0006 | 0.2197 |
GIRONA | 0.0312 | –0.0114 | –0.0398 | –0.0461 | –0.6995 | –0.0006 | 0.0870 |
LLEIDA | 0.0426 | –0.0583 | –0.0378 | –0.0818 | –1.6490 | –0.0008 | 0.1113 |
TARRAGONA | 0.0388 | –0.0122 | –0.0398 | –0.0108 | –0.8174 | –0.0004 | 0.0428 |
ALICANTE | –0.0915 | 0.0230 | –0.0379 | 0.0601 | –0.0219 | –0.0010 | –0.0450 |
CASTELLON | 0.0361 | 0.0104 | –0.0379 | 0.0072 | –0.0495 | 0.0006 | 0.0519 |
VALENCIA | –0.0322 | 0.0102 | –0.0021 | 0.0143 | 0.9955 | 0.0000 | –0.0730 |
BADAJOZ | 0.0351 | 0.0639 | 0.0258 | 0.1115 | –1.5900 | –0.0009 | –0.0961 |
CACERES | 0.0551 | 0.0350 | 0.0244 | 0.0670 | –2.0785 | –0.0011 | 0.1215 |
A CORUÑA | –0.0189 | –0.0285 | 0.0163 | –0.0031 | –0.1954 | –0.0002 | 0.0172 |
LUGO | 0.0170 | –0.0549 | 0.0226 | –0.0118 | –1.9468 | –0.0011 | –0.0427 |
OURENSE | –0.0377 | –0.0228 | –0.0017 | –0.0188 | –1.9869 | –0.0008 | –0.0868 |
PONTEVEDRA | 0.0148 | –0.0013 | –0.0015 | 0.0235 | 0.1738 | –0.0005 | 0.0079 |
MADRID | 0.0421 | –0.0391 | –0.0398 | –0.0663 | 1.4811 | 0.0018 | 0.0787 |
MURCIA | 0.0015 | 0.0148 | –0.0145 | 0.0802 | –0.6336 | –0.0001 | –0.0656 |
NAVARRA | 0.0138 | –0.0608 | 0.0626 | –0.0328 | 0.6025 | 0.0010 | 0.0541 |
ARABA/ALAVA | 0.0759 | –0.0559 | –0.0044 | –0.0537 | –0.0310 | 0.0006 | 0.0205 |
GIPUZKOA | 0.0417 | –0.0756 | 0.1014 | –0.0405 | 0.3829 | 0.0000 | 0.0660 |
BIZKAIA | 0.0111 | –0.0425 | –0.0398 | –0.0265 | 0.6434 | 0.0007 | –0.0242 |
LA RIOJA | –0.0189 | –0.0416 | –0.0177 | –0.0561 | –1.0135 | –0.0009 | 0.0848 |
Determinants of settlementsRobust standard errors (clustered by provinces) in parenthesis_
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 In column (6), Madrid and Barcelona are excluded. | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2010 reform | –0.107 | 0.0118 (0.0128) | 0.0148 (0.0209) | 0.0211 (0.0127) | –0.139 | –0.129 |
2012 reform | 0.208 | 0.118 | 0.261 | 0.124 | 0.244 | 0.201 |
Unemployment rate | –1.274 | –0.467 | –0.849 | –0.696 | ||
2010 reform | 0.840 | 0.777 | ||||
2012 reform | –0.532 | –0.375 | ||||
Profitability | 0.0106 (0.0157) | 0.439 | 0.466 | 0.475 | ||
2010 reform | –0.107 (0.132) | –0.135 (0.153) | ||||
2012 reform | –0.699 | –0.625 | ||||
Province fixed effects | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES |
Other controls Other controls include: temporary employment rate, sectoral distribution of employment, logarithm of the number of workers affected by collective dismissals, proportion of companies with more than 200 employees, proportion of dismissal lawsuits analyzed by professional judges, days of temporary positions at the labor courts per year, and judicial congestion rate. | NO | YES | NO | YES | YES | YES |
Observations | 13,880 | 10,976 | 13,880 | 10,976 | 10,976 | 8,192 |
R-squared | 0.201 | 0.521 | 0.340 | 0.543 | 0.573 | 0.535 |
# labor courts | 347 | 343 | 347 | 343 | 343 | 256 |
Determinants of labor court rulings declaring dismissals/layoffs as fairRobust standard errors (clustered by province) in parenthesis_
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 In column (6), Madrid and Barcelona are excluded. | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2010 reform 2012 reform | –0.0012 (0.00598) –0.0339 | 0.0376 | 0.0426 | 0.0385 | 0.0120 (0.0197) 0.00126 (0.0214) | 0.0288 (0.0187) 0.00138 (0.0278) |
Unemployment rate | –0.467 | –0.304 | –0.386 | –0.312 | ||
2010 reform | 0.137 (0.0836) | 0.0680 (0.0776) | ||||
2012 reform | –0.0036 | –0.0530 (0.0570) | –0.0102 (0.0892) –0.0181 (0.0550) | –0.0161 (0.104) –0.0181 (0.0550) | ||
2010 reform | –0.177 | –0.234 | ||||
(0.0813) | ||||||
2012 reform | –0.0317 (0.150) | –0.0250 (0.151) | ||||
Province fixed effects | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES |
Other controls Other controls include: temporary employment rate, sectoral distribution of employment, logarithm of the number of workers affected by collective dismissals, proportion of companies with more than 200 employees, proportion of dismissal lawsuits analyzed by professional judges, days of temporary positions at the labor courts per year, and judicial congestion rate. | NO | YES | NO | YES | YES | YES |
Observations | 14.181 | 10.202 | 12.825 | 10.202 | 10.202 | 7.586 |
R-squared | 0.017 | 0.055 | 0.036 | 0.058 | 0.060 | 0.056 |
# labor courts | 343 | 339 | 343 | 339 | 339 | 255 |
Severance payments in the theoretical model
Disguised as disciplinary | ||
Truthful | ||
Disguised as economic |
Effects of EPL reforms
Economic | dismissals | Disciplinary | Settlements | Firing costs | Fair ruling | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fair dismissals ↓ | ↑ | ↓ | unchanged | unchanged | ↓ | ↑ |
Unfair dismissals ↓ | ↓ | ↑ | unchanged | unchanged | ↓ | ↓ |
↑ | ↓ | unchanged | ↓ | ↓ | ↑ | |
Firm profitability ↓ | ↑ | ↓ | unchanged | ↓ | ↓ | ↑ |
Local labor market conditions | ↓ | ↑ | ↓ | unchanged | ↑ | ↓ |
↓ |
Definitions of variables and sources of data
Variable | Definition | Scale/Unit | Period | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|
Court rulings | Percentage of labor court judgments ruling that the dismissal was fair or justified | % | By court, 2004–2015 | CGPJ |
D1 (Reform 2010) | Period of enforcement of the 2010 labor market reform | Dummy | 2004–2015 | Self elaboration |
D2 (Reform 2012) | Period of enforcement of the 2012 labor market reform | Dummy | 2004–2015 | Self elaboration |
Unemployment rate | Percentage of total workforce which is unemployed and is looking for a paid job (in differences from the average) | % | By province, 2004–2014 | Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) |
Profitability | Return on assets (ROA) for the 10% of firms with a lower ROA | % | By province, 2004–2013 | Banco de España |
Temporary employment rate | Percentage of total workforce which has a fixed-term contract | % | By province, 2004–2014 | Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) |
Log of the number of workers under collective dismissals | Logarithm of the number of workers affected by collective dismissals | Logarithm | By province, 2004–2014 | Ministry of Employment and Social Security |
Proportion of companies with more than 200 employees | Proportion of companies with more than 200 employees over the total number of companies | % | By province, 2004–2014 | Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) |
Employment share of services | Percentage of total workforce working on services sector | % | By province, 2004–2014 | Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) |
Employment share of industry | Percentage of total workforce working on services sector | % | By province, 2004–2014 | Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) |
Employment share of construction | Percentage of total workforce working on services sector | % | By province, 2004–2014 | Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) |
Proportion of dismissal lawsuits analyzed (+) by | Percentage of labor court judgments ruling that the dismissal was fair or justified | % | By court, 2004–2015 | CGPJ |
professional judges over total | by professional judges over all the dismissal lawsuits analyzed by all judges | |||
Proportion of days with temporary | Proportion of days per 365-days a year with positions | Fraction | By court, 2004–2014 | CGPJ |
positions at the labor courts per year Judicial congestion rate (dismissals lawsuits) | at the labor courts held by interim judges Ratio between the sum of pending cases in a labor court plus new cases and the cases resolved in the same quarter | Fraction | By court, 2004–2014 | CGPJ |
Judicial congestion rate (pre-trial settlements) | Ratio between the sum of pending settlements in a labor court plus new settlements and the settlements resolved in the same quarter | % | By court, 2010–2015 | CGPJ |
Out-of-court settlements ratio | Ratio of the number of out-of- court settlements divided by the sum of those settlements and the total number of dismissal lawsuits | % | By court, 2004–2015 | CGPJ |
Descriptive statistics
Variable | Before 2010 | 2010–2012 | After 2012 | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Obs | Mean | Std. Dev. | Min | Max | Obs | Mean | Std. Dev. | Min | Max | Obs | Mean | Std. Dev. | Min | Max | |
Court rulings | 7,444 | 0.2730 | 0.1362 | 0 | 1 | 4,025 | 0.2582 | 0.1180 | 0 | 0.8182 | 3,390 | 0.2268 | 0.1144 | 0 | 1 |
Unemployment rate (in differences) | 8,328 | –0.0517 | 0.0496 | –0.1364 | 0.1397 | 4,164 | 0.0570 | 0.0638 | –0.0859 | 0.2372 | 2,429 | 0.091 | 0.0658 | –0.0271 | 0.2711 |
Profitability | 8,328 | 0.0398 | 0.0903 | 0 | 0.8100 | 4,164 | 0.0076 | 0.0338 | 0 | 0.3763 | 1,388 | 0.141 | 12527 | 0 | 13.5382 |
Temporary employment rate | 8,328 | 0.3089 | 0.0811 | 0.1628 | 0.5949 | 4,164 | 0.2480 | 0.0619 | 0.1315 | 0.4863 | 2,429 | 0.2387 | 0.0611 | 0.1325 | 0.5088 |
Log of the number of workers under collective dismissals | 6,940 | 7.9281 | 1.7189 | 2.8332 | 11.7512 | 4,164 | 9.2074 | 1.2555 | 5.464 | 11.2039 | 3,470 | 8.9239 | 1.3714 | 3.9890 | 10.9548 |
Proportion of companies with more than 200 employees | 8,578 | 0.0017 | 0.0009 | 0 | 0.0040 | 4,164 | 0.0015 | 0.0008 | 0.0003 | 0.0032 | 2,776 | 0.0016 | 0.0008 | 0.0002 | 0.0032 |
Employment share of services | 8,328 | 0.6685 | 0.0734 | 0.438 | 0.844 | 4,164 | 0.7400 | 0.0719 | 0.536 | 0.8890 | 2,429 | 0.7606 | 0.0705 | 0.584 | 0.888 |
Employment share of industry | 8,328 | 0.1626 | 0.0635 | 0.044 | 0.369 | 4,164 | 0.1404 | 0.0553 | 0.032 | 0.3420 | 2,429 | 0.1367 | 0.0557 | 0.031 | 0.279 |
Employment share of construction | 8,328 | 0.1206 | 0.0276 | 0.058 | 0.239 | 4,164 | 0.0773 | 0.0177 | 0.041 | 0.1670 | 2,429 | 0.0589 | 0.0117 | 0.033 | 0.109 |
Proportion of dismissal lawsuits analyzed (+) by professional judges over total | 8,328 | 0.9023 | 0.1767 | 0 | 1 | 4,164 | 0.8036 | 0.2736 | 0 | 1 | 3,470 | 0.8474 | 0.2509 | 0 | 1 |
Proportion of days with temporary positions at the labor courts per year | 8,232 | 0.0083 | 0.0408 | 0 | 0.5 | 4,116 | 0.0130 | 0.0516 | 0 | 0.2556 | 2,744 | 0.0056 | 0.0342 | 0 | 0.2556 |
Judicial congestion rate (dismissals lawsuits) | 8,328 | 2.0486 | 0.4877 | 1 | 13 | 4,164 | 2.6038 | 0.8173 | 1.0444 | 8.1958 | 0 | ||||
Judicial congestion rate (pre-trial settlements) | 8,328 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 15 | 4,164 | 6.6414 | 12.7790 | 0 | 285 | 3,470 | 6.4727 | 5.0171 | 0.544 | 45.5116 |
Out-of-court settlements ratio | 8,328 | 0.5422 | 0.1822 | 0 | 0.9310 | 4,164 | 0.4444 | 0.1672 | 0 | 0.8662 | 1,388 | 0.6719 | 0.142 | 0 | 0.9021 |