INTRODUCTION 1 Irregular migration as a structural phenomenon PART I IRREGULAR MIGRATION AND EASTERN ENLARGEMENT 2 From irregular migrants to fellow Europeans: Changes in Romanian migratory flows 3 Illegality in everyday life: Polish workers in Dutch agriculture 4 The informal economy of paid...

Changes to our way of life during the Covid lockdown accelerated an existing drive for more flexible working opportunities. However, the costs of flexible working requirements have rarely been properly assessed and could extend to undermining growth, increasing unemployment and the rise in...

We examine how labor market institutions shape monetary policy transmission in euro area countries. A theoretical model suggests that higher union density flattens the Phillips curve, amplifying output responses while dampening the inflation effects of monetary shocks. This is empirically...

This paper examines the impact of import competition on skill premium and the moderating effect of labor market flexibility on it, using panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2019. A dynamic panel threshold model with instrumental variables is employed to address the endogeneity...

Flexible work arrangements (FWAs) are often promoted as a means to regularise informal labour. Utilising unique Italian administrative data that links employer-employee records, daily voucher usage by firms, and randomly timed labour inspections (2014-2017), we demonstrate that FWAs can also...

A free competitive market offers wide opportunities for individuals and businesses and is compatible with the framework of classical liberalism. It is also the best environment for boosting productivity and economic growth. * Theere are uncompetitive elements within the UK's private sector which...

As nonprofits operate in a competitive environment with limited resources, they constantly seek new ways to optimize their resources. This study investigates factors influencing nonprofits' decision to integrate flexible labor, such as independent contractors, into their workforce. Using...

The EU energy system faces unprecedented challenges, driven by the energy prices crisis, originating from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the need to accelerate decarbonisation of energy production and consumption. In response, the EU launched the REPowerEU plan and, in 2024, adopted...

Germany has long been portrayed as the best real-world example of an export-oriented economic model associated with a dualized labor market and welfare state. The success of this export-centered model over the last decades has typically been ascribed to competitiveness due to wage restraint and...

This study examines the association between firm-level investments in automation technologies and employment outcomes, drawing on a panel dataset of approximately 10,450 Italian firms. We focus on the proliferation of non-standard labour contracts introduced by labour market reforms in the...

This article examines the challenge of personnel scheduling problem by incorporating a labor flexibility approach that integrates annualized hours, multiskilled employees, and overtime within an uncertain demand environment. To address this problem, a two-stage stochastic optimization model is...

This paper investigates the impact of job protection deregulation on firms' productivity, leveraging a size-based cutoff in the eligibility criteria of a pivotal 2014 labor market reform in Italy. The reform replaced reinstatement requirements with a progressive compensation system for unjust...

This paper examines structural challenges facing the Korean labor market and analyzes the macroeconomic effects of potential labor market reforms. Our cross-country empirical analysis finds that easing of employment protection legislation tends to have positive macroeconmic effects during...

This study examines the association between investments in automation technologies and employment outcomes at the firm level, utilizing a panel dataset of about 10,450 Italian firms. Focusing on the proliferation of non-standard, flexible labor contracts introduced by labor market reforms in the...

The existing literature investigating the labor market impact of immigration assumes, implicitly or explicitly, that the law or labor regulation is exogenous to immigration. To test this assumption, we build a novel workers' protection measure based on 36 labor law variables that capture labor...

The changing nature of work, accelerated by the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in several fundamental shifts in the terms and conditions of work. Overlain with a clear trend of increased non-standard employment, including through the gig economy and platform work, this poses...

Leveraging the first Covid-19 lockdown in Norway as a laboratory for an increase in work flexibility, we uncover a significant and persistent increase in births nine months later. Using the Goldin (2014) measure of work flexibility based on occupation characteristics, we show that fertility...

We study heterogeneity in the prevalence of and preferences for workplace flexibility and work meaning. We show that, internationally, women and parents value flexibility more but do not work more flexible jobs. The gender dimension of this flexibility puzzle is related to differences in...

Workplace flexibility has become increasingly popular and important within the landscape of human resource management especially during and even after the COVID19-pandemic among young working adults. The objective of this study is to identify the influence of four forms of workplace flexibility...

We analyze the impact of occupational deregulation on the wages of licensed workers. To do so, we exploit a deregulation policy in the German craft sector that removed the master certificate as a requirement for starting a business in about half of the craft occupations. Specifically, we examine...

This paper highlights the critical role that demand-shock and policy-shock induced finite changes play for the unconventional employment consequences of such shocks at a general equilibrium of a multi-sector competitive economy. A labour market reform that lowers the institutional costs of...

We conduct an experiment on a major international online freelancing labor market platform to study the impact of greater flexibility in choosing work hours within a day on female participation. We post identical job advertisements (for 320 jobs) covering a wide range of tasks (80 distinct...

Flexible work schedules and telecommuting may help to improve the combination of work and family. This is arguably most important in households with (young) children. An open question is whether job flexibility can increase the well-being of the children, which depends, in part, on the time...