How the cost of losing a job varies across different countries

Mar 15, 2022

Some labour markets are more efficient than others at finding work for the unemployed. Image: Unsplash/Avi Richards

Antoine Bertheau

Postdoctoral researcher, University of Copenhagen

Edoardo Maria Acabbi

Assistant Professor of Finance, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Andreas Gulyas

Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Mannheim

Stefano Lombardi

Senior Researcher, VATT Institute for Economic Research

Raffaele Saggio

Assistant Professor, Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Columbia

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What is the Forum doing about keeping workers well?

A chart showing job loss effects on earnings

Northern European workers are more likely to experience a smaller earning loss than Southern European workers Image: VOXEU

A chart to show job loss effects on the probability of receiving positive yearly earnings

Some workers struggle to find more employment opportunities after employment loss Image: VOXEU

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A chart showing earning losses and spending on active labour market policies

Denmark tends to have higher spending on labour market policies than Sweden, Austria, France, Spain, Italy, and Portugal Image: VOXEU

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