Contenu du sommaire : Études du marché du travail

I. Contrat, chômage

• Présentation générale - Pierre Morin, Louis-André Gérard-Varet, Pierre Cahuc p. 1-6
• Effort et contrats : quelques enseignements concernant le marché du travail - André Zylberberg p. 1-20
  Efforts and Contracts: Some Information on the Labour Market, by André Zylberberg. When certain variables are unable to be checked by a court, contracts need to be implicit and self-enforcing. This article uses a simple model to analyze how such contracts enable a better understanding of the appearance of certain characteristics in the functioning of the labour market, which would not appear to be explicable using a purely competitive model. Some of the main characteristics studied by the article are a wage contract's optimal form, the remuneration profile over the life cycle, the existence of internal markets, and promotion systems.
• Salaire d'efficience et coopération entre insiders et outsiders - Muriel Pucci p. 21-37
  The Efficiency Wage and Co-operation between Insiders and Outsiders, by Muriel Pucci. This article proposes a new basis for the efficiency ratio, drawing on the distinction between employees (insiders) and applicants (outsiders). It shows that firms should offer wage profiles that rise with seniority in order to encourage insiders, who have acquired specific skills, to train new employees when the individual training effort cannot be satisfactorily observed. A study is made of the conditions under which in-house training with an efficiency wage is chosen by the firm, presuming that the firm may opt for the alternative of external employee training or even use solely unskilled labour.
• Organisation du travail, technologie et performances : une étude empirique - Dominique Guellec, Nathalie Greenan p. 39-56
  Work Organization, Technology and Performance: An Empirical Study, by Dominique Guellec and Nathalie Greenan. The purpose of this study is to pinpoint the main features and development of the various ways of organizing production in French companies. These methods are then linked to the technologies employed and the firms' performances. The data used come from a survey of employees (1,500 manual employees) and a survey of companies (7,000 firms). The two main organizational variables that differentiate companies are the intensity of communications and the magnitude of work constraints. Econometric estimation suggests that the aim of the organizational innovations is to create conditions for the individual and collective learning of new technologies. Such innovations also appear to enable the firm to adjust better to changing markets through technological innovation and stock reduction.
• Le rôle de la mobilité du travail dans un modèle macro-économique de sous-emploi avec concurrence imparfaite, négociations salariales et anticipations rationnelles - Jean-Pascal Bénassy p. 57-66
  The Role of Labour Mobility in a Macroeconomic Model of Underemployment with Imperfect Competition, Wage Negotiations and Rational Expectations, by Jean-Pascal Bénassy. This article studies the role of labour mobility. Explicit general-equilibrium solutions are worked out. This is done even for the case in which all the firms in the economy are different, which enables an evaluation of the impact of each firm's own parameters on the endogenous variables. The influence of productivity and negotiating power on wages in each firm differs drastically according to whether there is perfect worker mobility or immobility. Excessively high negotiating power across all unions can be harmful to employees.
• Créations et suppressions d'emploi en France [Une étude de la période 1984-1992] - Constance Torelli, Éric Maurin, Sylvie Lagarde p. 67-88
  Job Creations and Destructions in France A Survey of the period from 1984 to 1992, by Sylvie Lagarde, Éric Maurin and Constance Torelli. Job flows have certain characteristics in common in France and the United States. They tend to increase when the economy slows down and, more importantly, they reflect the diversity of individual dynamics within the different activity sectors. Job reallocation between sectors plays a secondary role. Although sound at an international level, previous results merely concern the reallocation of jobs between production units. Yet, every year, large numbers of job reallocations are made actually within the production units : the vast majority of the units create and axe jobs simultaneously. These internal reorganizations result in job flows as high as those normally observed between establishments. Moreover, they tend to escalate when the economy is favourable. This result challenges the hypothesis whereby recessions play a dominant role in the process of reallocating activities and resources.
• Le chômage comme équilibre de flux : les modèles d'appariement - Isabelle Lebon, François Langot p. 89-112
  Unemployment as a Flow Equilibrium: Models of Matchings, by François Langot and Isabelle Lebon. The increase in the average length of unemployment in the leading European countries has prompted economists to develop dynamic models in which the period of unemployment is endogenous. The purpose of this article is to show how a study of flows on the labour market enables the persistence of unemployment to be analyzed. This modelling provides a microeconomic foundation for the Beveridge and Phillips curves and proves that they are complementary in the analysis of the unemployment dynamic. This labour market approach can be introduced into studies showing the existence of multiple equilibria or clarifying the link between growth and unemployment.
• Caractéristiques de l'emploi et du chômage par catégories socioprofessionnelles : France, 1962-1989 - Henri Sneessens, Bénédicte Maillard p. 113-126
  Employment and Unemployment Characteristics by Socio-Economic Groups: France, 1962 to 1989, by Bénédicte Maillard and Henri Sneessens. This article compares the trends observed in the four main socio-economic groups defined by the Insee employment surveys. The image of a highly segmented labour market emerges. Two groups can be distinguished: one with a very high level of qualifications (senior executives and middle-management professions) and the other with a much lower level of qualifications (manual and non-manual employees). Yet the division between these two groups is not as clear as would normally be thought as regards other criteria (share in total unemployment, mobility and length of unemployment). The level of education would nevertheless appear to form an important dividing line in the labour market.
• Courbe de Beveridge et demande de qualifications - Henri Sneessens p. 127-137
  The Beveridge Curve and the Demand for Qualifications, by Henri Sneessens. This article analyzes the possible reasons for the observed deterioration in the relationship between job vacancies and unemployment, as shown by the Beveridge Curve. The analysis is based on a macroeconomic model, which distinguishes two levels of qualifications and in which firms may be restricted either by a lack of markets, a lack of production capacity or a lack of skilled manpower. The results of the estimates suggest low frictional growth and an appreciable rise in structural problems between 1962 and 1989.
• Le chômage d'inadéquation en France : une évaluation - Yannick L'Horty, Roland Lescure p. 139-154
  Unemployment as a Result of a Mismatch in France: An Evaluation, by Roland Lescure and Yannick L'Ilorty. This article presents an evaluation of the intensity of unemployment as a result of a mismatch on the French labour market since 1970. To do this, it uses the indicator derived from the Jackman, Layard and Savouri model (1991). It concludes first of all that age and gender disparities have a low and declining effect on the formation of structural unemployment. Then, it highlights a steadily low level of geographical mismatching: the problems of inter-regional mobility merely explain a marginal fraction of structural unemployment. Lastly, it establishes the significant impact of the mismatch in qualifications, which would account for nearly one-tenth of structural unemployment in France.
• Durées de chômage et comportements d'offre de travail : une revue de la littérature - Chantal Cases p. 155-170
  The Duration of Unemployment and Labour Supply Behaviour: a Survey, by Chantai Cases. The increase in unemployment in the 1970s and 1980s and the questioning of the Walras labour market model resulted in the development of theoretical and empirical studies of the factors determining the length of unemployment. Most of the empirical analyses are based on partial equilibrium "job-seeking" models or their extensions (models of mobility and matchings). Other major theoretical trends, segmentation models in particular, are also illustrated. Empirical studies have not yet established undisputed results as regards the effect of unemployment benefits on the length of unemployment.
• Une analyse empirique de la relation entre la durée de chômage et le salaire offert - Christian Belzil p. 171-175
  An Empirical Analysis of the Relation Between the Length of Unemployment and the Wage Offered, by Christian Belzil. This article analyzes the human-capital losses caused by unemployment using an empirical study of the relationship between the length of unemployment and the re-employment wage. The model posits that the reservation wage and the wage distribution offered depend on the length of unemployment. The model is estimated using longitudinal data on young Canadian workers who have lost their jobs and subsequently found new ones. The results indicate that, even taking account of indiscernible heterogeneousness, both the wage offered and the reservation wage are a decreasing function of the length of unemployment.
• Estimation d'un modèle de sortie de chômage à destinations multiples - Stefan Lollivier, Chantal Cases p. 177-187
  Estimation of a Model of Exits from Unemployment with Diverse Applications, by Chantai Cases and Stefan Lollivier. The differences between individuals are frequently introduced into duration models applied to exits from unemployment. The heterogeneousness of states of exit is less often taken into account in estimates. However, the labour market is showing an increasing tendency to divide itself up between steady jobs and insecure jobs. The purpose of this study is to propose the estimation of a duration model with three possible states of exit at the end of unemployment, taking into account the dualism on the labour market and the possibility of leaving the world of work altogether. Both the lengths and the effect of the exogenous variables differ greatly according to the three states.
• Taux de sortie du chômage à l'approche de la fin des droits à l'indemnisation. Une étude de périodes atypiques durant l'épisode de chômage - Michèle Ruggiero, Xavier Joutard p. 189-205
  The Rate of Exits from Unemployment Towards the End of Unemployment Benefits A Study of Atypical Periods During the Unemployment Episode, by Xavier Joutard and Michèle Ruggiero. This article looks at the imminence of benefit-scheme changes, using the June 1989 Fichier national des allocataires (French national file of welfare recipients). It is considered that the period around a scheme change is an atypical period in the unemployment episode. Duration models are estimated over these particular time intervals. The aim is to identify the characteristics of individuals whose rate of exit from unemployment increases as a drop in replacement income draws near.
• Fermetures d'usines et durées du chômage : signaux et comportements de recherche d'emploi au Canada - Pierre Grenier, David M. Gray p. 207-217
  Factory Closures and Lengths of Unemployment: Job-Seeking Signals and Job-Seeking Behaviour in Canada, by David M. Gray and Pierre Grenier. The literature suggests that displaced workers who have lost their job due to a factory closure experience shorter periods of unemployment that those who have lost their job due to redundancies affecting only part of a factory's workers. This effect is said to come about through recall anticipations and the intensity of the worker's search for a new job. However, another recent interpretation upholds that the observed correlation picks up a signal effect: negative information on the unobserved productivity of a worker is relayed when the worker is made redundant. The article tests the validity of these two hypotheses using the Enquête canadienne auprès des travailleurs déplacés (the Canadian Survey of Displaced Workers), which contains information apt to separate out the two effects. The results suggest that, in Canada, the effect of recall anticipations dominates the signal effect.