Mandatory Notice and the Jobless Durations of Displaced Workers

Using Canadian Displaced Workers Survey data for 1981-86, the author studies the effect of Canadian advance notice laws on displaced workers' jobless durations. So-called group notice laws, which apply to large-scale layoffs, reduced the jobless durations of plant closure victims, but individual notice laws, which apply to all layoffs in some jurisdictions but only small-scale layoffs in others, had little effect. One possible explanation for this difference is that workers who lose their jobs while their plant remains open may have stronger expectations of being rehired than do other displaced workers and may therefore delay job search with or without notice