Enemy of Labour? Analysing the Employment Effects of Mergers and Acquisitions

Lehto, Eero and Böckerman, Petri (2006): Enemy of Labour? Analysing the Employment Effects of Mergers and Acquisitions.

Abstract

This paper analyses the employment effects of mergers and acquisitions by using matched establishment-level data from Finland over the period of 1989-2003. The data covers all sectors. We compare the employment effects of cross-border M&As with the effects arising from two different types of domestic M&As and internal restructurings. The results reveal that cross-border M&As lead to downsizing in manufacturing employment. The effects of cross-border M&As on employment in non-manufacturing are much weaker. Changes in ownership associated with domestic M&As and internal restructurings also typically cause employment losses, but these is interesting sectoral variation.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Institution: Labour Institute for Economic Research
• Language: English
• Keywords: Mergers and acquisitions; M&As; takeovers; employment; workforce
• Subjects: J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J6 - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers > J60 - General; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J6 - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers > J63 - Turnover ; Vacancies ; Layoffs

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