摘要:Recessions and policy interventions in labour markets in developing countries
are characterized not only by changes in the unemployment rate, but also by
changes in the proportion of formal or protected jobs. This reallocation between
formal and informal jobs is large and occurs mainly because the job finding rate
of formal jobs reacts substantially more than the job finding rate of informal
jobs. This paper presents a search and matching model to capture this fact. I
assume that firms operate the within firm margin of formality, choosing to
legalize only those matches that are good enough to compensate the costs of
formality. In this framework, recessions or stricter regulations in the labour
market trigger two effects. As expected, they lower the incentives to post
vacancies (meeting effect), but also affect the firms’ hiring standards,
favouring informal contracts (offer effect). This new channel sheds light on how
the actions of policy makers alter the outcomes in an economy with informal
jobs. For instance, attempts to protect employment by increasing .ring costs
will reallocate workers to informal jobs, where job separation is high. They are
also likely to increase unemployment.
关键词:Informal economy, search models, labour markets, regulations