The Effect of Labour Cost Reduction on Employment of Vulnerable Groups — Evaluation of the Hungarian Job Protection Act

Svraka, András (2018): The Effect of Labour Cost Reduction on Employment of Vulnerable Groups — Evaluation of the Hungarian Job Protection Act.

Abstract

In 2013 Hungary introduced large scale targeted employers' social security contribution cuts for the young, old, low-skilled, and other marginally attached workforce, called the Job Protection Act (JPA). In this paper I estimate the employment effects of the programme for the main target groups using the discontinuities in the JPA's design in a differences in differences framework on administrative datasources. My estimates show robust and economically significant employment effects for the JPA, a total 1.2% point increase in employment rate three years after the introduction. The JPA was highly effective in the young and low-skilled target groups, with high self-financing ratios, while it was only marginally effective in the old target group. The results suggests that targeted tax incentives can be a cost-efficient way of increasing employment in vulnerable groups.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Job Protection Act, targeted tax incentives, differences in differences
• Subjects: H - Public Economics > H2 - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue > H24 - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J21 - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J23 - Labor Demand

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