Employment and economic growth expectations after the new Spanish labor reform: an analysis of the impact of business confidence

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51302/rtss.2023.3353

Keywords:

labor cost, business confidence, GDP, unemployment, sectors, Spain, VECM

Abstract

The approval of new labor reform in Spain has reignited a debate in which different academic and professional voices discuss the impact of labor costs on variables such as the business confidence index (BCI), GDP, or employment. This research aims to assess how an increase in labor costs affects GDP and unemployment in different periods and to what degree business confidence can modify this impact. To this end, a VECM with data from 2013-2021 allows mutual causality between the variables considered and measures short- and long-term effects. The results show the elasticity’ in different periods and confirm that the impact on BCI of a shock in labor cost is increasingly negative over time and produces high negative effects on employment and GDP growth, especially on employment 6 months after the shock. The data according to activity sectors also show the importance of business confidence in explaining the evolution of GDP and unemployment in the construction, transport, and hospitality sectors. These findings can be helpful in the formulation of policies and strategies that contribute to business confidence and influence different aspects related to production and employment decisions.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Irene Campos García, PDI Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid, España)

Licenciada en Económicas y Periodismo y doctora en Organización de Empresas. Estancias docentes en Paris Business School y Copenhaguen Business School y estancias de investigación en Middlesex University London y Clarion University (Pensilvania, EE. UU.). Publicaciones en revistas internacionales de alto impacto y miembro de un proyecto de investigación del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. Nominada 3 años como mejor profesora de universidad de España (Premio Abanca). https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2227-7820

Carolina Cosculluela Martínez, PDI Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid, España)

Premio extraordinario de doctorado en Economía Aplicada y Estadística con Premio Enrique Fuentes Quintana (Funcas). Investigadora principal de proyecto competitivo de la Fundación Ramón Areces. Ocho artículos publicados en revistas indexadas en JCR y tres más en WOS (1 sexenio). Otras publicaciones en la primera revista del IN-RECS y publicaciones en editoriales situadas en el primer decil y primer cuartil del SPI y una monografía premiada. Docencia e investigación en el Departamento de Econometría de las Universidades de Illinois y de Katowice. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0885-7511

References

Adekoya, O. B. y Oliyide, J. A. (2021). Business confidence as a strong tracker of future growth: is it driven by economic policy uncertainty and oil price shocks in the OECD countries? Future Business Journal, 7(1), 1-13.

Aderibigbe, J. K., Mpondo, L. M., Gcaza, N. I. y Chimucheka, T. (2020). Impact of start-up logistic concerns and lack of business confidence on entrepreneurial intention among some university students in South Africa. Journal of Gender, Information and Development in Africa (JGIDA), 9(1), 89-108.

Akaike, H. (1974). A new look at the statistical model identification. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 19(6), 716-723.

Bachmann, R. y Sims, E. R. (2012). Confidence and the transmission of government spending shocks. Journal of Monetary Economics, 59(3), 235-249.

Bloom, N., Davis, S. J., Foster, L., Lucking, B., Ohlmacher, S. y Saporta-Eksten, I. (2020). Business-level expectations and uncertainty (No. w28259). National Bureau of Economic Research.

Cagan, P. (1956). The monetary dynamics of hyperinflation. En M. Friedman (Ed.), Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money (pp. 25-117). The University of Chicago Press.

Carannante, M., Mattera, R., Misuraca, M., Scepi, G. y Spano, M. (2020). Nowcasting GDP using mixed-frequency based composite confidence indicators. Book of Short Papers SIS, 2020, 981-986.

Cosculluela Martínez, C. y De Frutos, R. F. (2013). Housing investment in Spain: has it been the main engine of growth? Applied Economics, 45(14), 1.835-1.843.

De Mendonça, H. F. y Almeida, A. F. G. (2019). Importance of credibility for business confidence: evidence from an emerging economy. Empirical Economics, 57(6), 1.979-1.996.

Eurostat. (2022). Unemployment in the EU and the euro area. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Unemployment_statistics

Evans, G. W., Honkapohja, S. y Marimon, R. (2001). Convergence in monetary inflation models with heterogeneous learning rules. Macroeconomic Dynamics, 5(1), 1-31.

Fei, S. (2011). The confidence channel for the transmission of shocks. Banque de France. Working Paper No. 314. https://ssrn.com/abstract=1742913 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1742913

Ghose, A. K. (1994). Employment in organised manufacturing in India. Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 37(2), 141-162.

Gómez Cardona, S. y Jaramillo, A. (2009). Is the economic situation a result from business expectations? An analysis of EOIC 1990-2008. Perfil de Coyuntura Económica, 14, 135-158.

Heye, C. (1993). Labor market tightness and business confidence: an international comparison. Politics & Society, 21(2), 169-193.

Ilut, C. L. y Schneider, M. (2014). Ambiguous business cycles. American Economic Review, 104(8), 2.368-2.399.

IMD. (2021). World competitiveness ranking 2021. Technical report, IMD World Competitiveness online. https://www.imd.org/centers/wcc/world-competitiveness-center/rankings/world-competitiveness-ranking/

Johansen, S. (1988). Statistical analysis of cointegration vectors. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 12(2-3), 231-254.

Johansen, S. (1991). Estimation and hypothesis testing of cointegration vectors in Gaussian vector autoregressive models. Econometrica. Journal of the Econometric Society, 59(6), 1.551-1.580.

Keynes, J. M. (1936). The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. Macmillan.

Khan, H. y Upadhayaya, S. (2020). Does business confidence matter for investment? Empirical Economics, 59(4), 1.633-1.665.

Kirchner, S. (2020). The effect of changes in monetary policy on consumer and business confidence. Australian Economic Review, 53(1), 118-125.

Konstantinou, P. y Tagkalakis, A. (2011). Boosting confidence: is there a role for fiscal policy? Economic Modelling, 28(4), 1.629-1.641.

L’Horty, Y. y Rault, C. (2005). The impact of growth, labour cost and working time on employment: lessons from the French experience. Labour, 19(3), 595-620.

Leduc, S. (2010). Confidence and the business cycle. FRBSF Economic Letter, 35, 1-4.

Lütkepohl, H. (2013). Introduction to multiple time series analysis. Springer Science & Business Media.

Mourougane, A. y Roma, M. (2003). Can confidence indicators be useful to predict short term real GDP growth? Applied Economics Letters, 10(8), 519-522.

Muth, J. F. (1961). Rational expectations and the theory of price movements. Econometrica. Journal of the Econometric Society, 29(3), 315-335.

Nevile, J. W. y Kriesler, P. (2016). Expectations and unemployment. En Post-Keynesian Essays from Down Under. Volume IV: Essays on Theory (pp. 41-52). Palgrave Macmillan.

Nickell, S. J. (2003). Employment and taxes. SSRN 489443.

Pigou, A. C. (1949). Employment and equilibrium: a theoretical discussion. Second (revised) edition. Macmillan and Company.

Santero, T. y Westerlund, N. (1996). Confidence indicators and their relationship to changes in economic activity. OECD Economics Department Working Papers No. 170.

Shackle, G. L. S. (1939). Expectations and employment. The Economic Journal, 49(195), 442-452.

Sharma, A. N. (2006). Flexibility, employment and labour market reforms in India. Economic and Political Weekly, 41(21), 2.078-2.085.

Sum, V. (2014). Effects of business and consumer confidence on stock market returns: cross-sectional evidence. Economics, Management, and Financial Markets, 9(1), 21-25.

Taylor, K. y McNabb, R. (2007). Business cycles and the role of confidence: evidence for Europe. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 69(2), 185-208.

Tibulca, I. L. (2015). How do fiscal policy decisions influence business confidence? Case study: the manufacturing sector. Journal of Eastern Europe Research in Business & Economics, 2015, 1-8.

Van Luong, K. y Vixathep, S. (2016). Business confidence index: a reflection of business sentiment in Viet Nam. Journal of International Cooperation Studies, 23(2), 1-10.

World Bank. (2022). GDP growth (anual) European Union. Technical report, World Bank. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?locations=EU

Zheng, T., Zhao, Y. y Li, J. (2019). Rising labour cost, environmental regulation and manufacturing restructuring of Chinese cities. Journal of Cleaner Production, 214, 583-592.

Published

2023-06-15 — Updated on 2023-06-30

Versions

How to Cite

Campos García, I., & Cosculluela Martínez, C. (2023). Employment and economic growth expectations after the new Spanish labor reform: an analysis of the impact of business confidence. Revista De Trabajo Y Seguridad Social. CEF, (475), 255–279. https://doi.org/10.51302/rtss.2023.3353 (Original work published June 15, 2023)