Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Fixed-Term Contracts and Labor Market Duality in France

  • Published:
De Economist Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The French labor market is segmented between permanent and temporary workers. The second category has difficulty in getting an open-ended contract. This paper aims at depicting workers on short-term contracts and shows the consequences on their professional career are negative and significant. A large part of the wage gap between permanent and temporary workers remains unexplained by observable characteristics. They receive less on-the-job training and their likelihood of obtaining a stable job is lower than 30% after 1 year and a half. They have also a higher probability of being the adjustment variable in case of an economic negative shock. These different findings show the importance of using public policies to encourage transitions from fixed-term to permanent employment and reducing labor-market duality.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1

Source: LFS; Author’s calculations

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Full estimations are available in “Web Appendix” section.

  2. Table of the total decomposition is in “Web Appendix” section.

  3. The full estimation is in “Web Appendix” section.

  4. For a description of this survey, see Jadeau et al. (2015).

References

  • Bassanini, A., & Garnero, A. (2013). Dismissal protection and worker flows in OECD countries: Evidence from cross-country/cross-industry data. Labour Economics, 21(C), 24–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bentolila, S., Dolado, J., & Jimeno, J.-F. (2012). Reforming an insider–outsider labor market: The Spanish experience. IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, 1, 1–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berson, C., & Ferrari, N. (2015). Financial incentives and labour market duality. Labour Economics, 37(C), 77–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanchard, O., & Landier, A. (2002). The perverse effects of partial labour market reform: Fixed-term contracts in France. Economic Journal, 112(480), F189–F2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanchard, O., & Tirole, J. (2003). Protection de l’emploi et procédures de licenciement. Discussion paper. Conseil d’Analye Economique, La Documentation Française.

  • Blasco, S., & Givord, P. (2010). Les trajectoires professionnelles en début de vie active: Quel impact des contrats temporaires? Economie et Statistiques, 431–432, 73–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boeri, T. (2011). Institutional reforms and dualism in European labour markets (Vol. 4b), Chap. Handbook of Labor Economics. O. Ashenfelter and D. Card.

  • Cabrales, A., Dolado, J., & Mora, R. (2014). Dual labour markets and (lack of) on-the-job training: PIAAC evidence from Spain and other EU countries. IZA discussion paper no. 8649.

  • Cahuc, P., Charlot, O., & Malherbet, F. (2016). Explaining the spread of temprary jobs and its impact on labor turnover. International Economic Review, 57(05), 533–572.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cahuc, P., & Kramarz, F. (2004). De la précarité à la mobilité: Vers une Sécurité sociale professionnelle. Discussion paper. Conseil d’Analyse Economique, La Documentation Française.

  • Cahuc, P., & Postel-Vinay, F. (2002). Temporary jobs, employment protection and labor market performance. Labour Economics, 9(1), 63–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Centeno, M., & Novo, A. (2012). Excess worker turnover and fixed-term contracts: Causal evidence in a two-tier system. Labour Economics, 19, 320–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ciano, E., & de Blasio, G. (2015). Getting stable: An evaluation of the incentives for permanent contracts in Italy. IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, 4(1), 6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dias da Silva, A., & Turrini, A. (2015). Precarious and less well paid? Wage differences between permanent and fixed-term contracts across EU. Economic paper 544, Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs.

  • Fontaine, F., & Malherbet, F. (2016). CDD vs CDI. Les effets d’un dualisme contractuel. Paris: SciencesPo Les Presses.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jadeau, C., Jousselin, E., Roux, S., & Verdugo, G. (2015). The behaviour of French firms during the crisis: Evidence from the wage dynamics network survey. Working papers 574, Banque de France.

  • Le Barbanchon, T., & Malherbet, F. (2013). An anatomy of the French labor market. ILO employment working paper 142.

  • L’Haridon, O., & Malherbet, F. (2010). Réforme de la protection de l’emploi et performance du marché du travail dans un modèle d’appariement. Annals of Economics and Statistics, 99–100, 247–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mincer, J. (1974). Schooling, experience, and earnings. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD. (2014). OECD employment outlook 2014. Paris: OECD Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Picart, C. (2014). Emploi et salaires 2014. Chap. Une rotation de la main d’oeuvre presque quintuplée en 30 ans: Plus qu’un essor des formes particulières d’emploi, un profond changement de leur usage (pp. 29–45). INSEE.

  • Saint-Paul, G. (1996). Dual labor markets: A macroeconomic perspective. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stancanelli, E. (2002). Wages and career perspectives of temporary workers. Tilburg University Working Paper.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Clémence Berson.

Additional information

I am gratefull to Clément Bosquet and the anonymous referees for their helpfull comments.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (pdf 105 KB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Berson, C. Fixed-Term Contracts and Labor Market Duality in France. De Economist 166, 455–476 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10645-018-9318-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10645-018-9318-y

Keywords

JEL Classification

Navigation