Flexibility of the labor market

This dissertation is comprised of three essays about flexibility of the labor market. It is possible to distinguish three broad research themes in the thesis: hours, unemployment and wage losses of displaced workers. Overall, it is difficult to draw general conclusions regarding such different specific topics. Fewer hours will allow for the same work to be shared by more workers. However, unemployment duration is longer (not only in Europe but also in the U.S.) and flexibility is needed in terms of increasing labor mobility and therefore reducing the duration of the unemployment spell. The information that is passed to the employer through the schooling signal does not promote more job offers to the more educated unemployed. This finding raises the importance of discussing the interest of providing vocational training in order to help these workers to find a job. In terms of earnings losses of displaced workers we know that these losses are large and persistent. These losses are largely explained by the long-term joblessness. The wage losses experienced by the displaced worker are explained by the allocation into lower-paid job titles and sorting into low wage firms.