Comparative Employment Performance: A Fuzzy-Set Analysis

Much of the debate about comparative employment performance in recent decades has focused on the impact of labor market institutions and policies. A number of studies have found that institutions and policies that restrict or regulate market processes for example, wage compression, employment protection regulations, high taxes, generous unemployment benefits have adverse effects on employment outcomes (OECD, 1994, 2006; Nickell, 1997; Scharpf, 1997, 2000; Siebert, 1997; Iversen and Wren, 1998; Blanchard and Wolfers, 2000; Blau and Kahn, 2002; IMF, 2003; Kenworthy, 2004, 2008; Kemmerling, 2005; Nickell, Nunziata, and Ochel, 2005; Bassanini and Duval, 2006). Others question this conclusion (Glyn and Salverda, 2000; Esping-Andersen and Regini, 2000; Martin, 2004; Baccaro and Rei, 2005; Baker et al., 2005; Schettkat, 2005; Stephens and Bradley, 2005; Howell et al., 2006). Almost without exception, quantitative macrocomparative studies on this issue have used regression as the analytical technique. We instead use fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fuzzy-set QCA). Utilizing fuzzy-set QCA, we explore the determinants of poor employment performance in low-end private-sector services in 14 countries between 1979 and 1995.