The Surprising French Employment Performance: What Lessons?
The Surprising French Employment Performance: What Lessons?
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令人惊讶的法国就业表现：什么教训？
DOI：
10.2139/ssrn.466562
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发表时间：
2003
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
J. Pisani
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
J. Pisani
尽管被广泛认为是僵化经济的教科书案例，但在20世纪90年代末，法国能够在5年内增加10%的就业，并将失业率降低逾四分之一。本文调查了哪些因素可能解释了这一令人惊讶的表现。证据表明，对劳动力的需求发生了重大转变，这可以部分归因于上世纪90年代开始削减社保缴费，以及后来改为每周工作35小时。尽管有很大比例的公司报告招聘困难，但失业率的大幅下降并未带来明显的薪资压力。然而，在本世纪初推出了旨在促进劳动力供应的新措施。上世纪90年代，法国劳动力市场政策的特点是强调刺激劳动力需求，但这种做法比观察人士预期的更为成功。这为积极劳动力市场政策的倡导者提供了支持。然而，这种方法的预算成本也很高。这一战略在中期内是否可持续，可能会成为一个越来越大的问题。
Although widely regarded as a textbook case of a rigid economy, in the late 1990s France was able to increase employment by 10 per cent within five years and to cut down unemployment by more than a fourth. This paper investigates what factors may account for this surprising performance. The evidence suggests a significant shift in the demand for labour, that can be partially ascribed to cuts in social security contributions introduced in the 1990s and to the later move to a 35 hours work week. Although a large proportion of companies reported difficulties in hiring, the sharp reduction in unemployment did not result in significant wage pressure. Nevertheless, new measures aiming at fostering labour supply were introduced in the early 2000s. The emphasis on stimulating labour demand that characterised French labour market policies in the 1990s was more successful than expected by observers. This lends support to the advocates of active labour market policies. However, the budgetary cost of this approach has also been high. Whether this strategy is sustainable in the medium run is likely to become increasingly an issue.