Employment Protection Legislation in Emerging Economies

Abstract

With emerging economies facing significant lags in the use of information technology to improve their productivity and compete with industrialized economies, the availability of relatively lower-cost labor in the emerging economies is considered a powerful asset that can compensate for their technological disadvantage. However, regulating the labor market often proves to be rather challenging as it is important that a balance be struck between protecting workers and stimulating economic growth. This chapter analyzes the literature on labor market regulations in the emerging economies to observe that the trade-off between employment protection legislation (EPL), job creation, productivity, and innovation often cited in the literature is not conclusive.