"The transition to market in Slovenia created labor displacements that were on par or greater than that experienced in North America in the 1980s. A simple theoretical model suggests that factors which raise the probability of layoff should also increase the probability of a quit, predictions that are borne out in data. Probability of both layoffs and quits fell with worker tenure, firm profitability and expected severance costs. Individuals facing a higher probability of displacement accepted slower wage growth than otherwise comparable workers. The incentives to avoid displacement were strong -- workers that actually were displaced faced a slow process of transiting out of unemployment with only one-third finding reemployment. Correcting for selection, real wage losses for displaced workers are comparable to those reported for displaced workers in North America"--Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit web site.

April 1995 At 3 to 4 percent a year, the displacement rate for the Slovenian labor force in 1990- 93 was higher than that for the North American labor force during a major recession in the 1980s. But patterns of displacement were similar. Unusually rich administrative data sets covering both firms and workers enabled Orazem, Vodopivec, and Wu to study displacement in Slovenia during 1987 - 93. They describe displacement trends and the characteristics of displaced workers, comparing them to those in North America during a major recession. They analyze the determinants of displacement in the framework of labor turnover, and explore factors associated with postdisplacement wage losses. Among their findings: * A comparison of displacement in Slovenia in 1990 - 93 and in North America during the recession of the early 1980s shows striking similarities in the incidence of displacement by gender and industry, as well as in reemployment paths. * Workers try to avoid displacement both by switching to another job and by leaving the labor force. Before becoming displaced, they also take wage cuts. * Both the probability of displacement and the probability of job quits are negatively correlated with tenure. * Women are no more likely to be displaced than men, and face smaller postdisplacement wage losses. Non-Slovenians are no more likely to be displaced than Slovenians, and face equal wage losses. * Firm characteristics matter. The smaller and less profitable the firm, the greater the likelihood of both displacement and job-switching. Restructuring subsidies that lower firm layoff costs increase the number of firm- and worker-initiated transitions. * About half the displaced workers who find new jobs change occupations and about a third change industry. * Only about a third of workers displaced in 1990 had found a job by the end of 1991. Surprisingly, for more than 68 percent of them, wage growth exceeded the median wage growth in the economy (17 percent). Those not reemployed seem to be paying a heavy toll: Not only do they stay unemployed much longer, but they face much lower reemployment wages. * As studies of displacement in the United States also show, greater job experience is associated with heavier postdisplacement wage losses. The magnitude of those losses is consistent with findings about U.S. wage losses. This paper -- a product of the Transition Economics Division, Policy Research Department -- is part of a larger effort in the department to investigate how labor markets work during the transition. The study was funded by the Bank's Research Support Budget under the research project Labor Market Dynamics during the Transition of a Socialist Economy (RPO 677-20).

This guide is an update To The 2001 Guide to worker displacement that was published as a response To The Asian financial crisis. The Guide, drawing on experience primarily in North America and during the transition process in Central and Eastern Europe, explores how enterprises, communities and workers can respond To The financial crisis and how to reduce potential job losses. This includes possible strategies for averting layoffs and promoting business retention by communities, enterprise managements and workers' association. The guide is primarily for use in industrialized and transition countries, and is aimed at policy makers, employers and workers in developing appropriate responses that promote worker retention and employment during the recession.

And synthesis / Peter J. Kuhn -- Displaced workers in the United States and the Netherlands / Joap H. Abbring ... [et al.] -- Worker displacement in Japan and Canada / Masahiro Abe ... [et al.] -- They get knocked down. do they get up again? / Jeff Borland ... [et al.] -- Worker displacement in France and Germany / Stefan Bender ... [et al.] -- Employment protection and the consequences for displaced workers / Karsten Albk, Marc Van Audenrode, and Martin Browning.

This thesis conceptualises the job transition as a continuous process in the context of organisational downsizing and restructuring. It argues that the policy and research related to re-employment following job loss, organisational downsizing and relevant labour market interventions remains disconnected from, and hence underemphasises, the sequential and cumulative nature of the transition process while also focussing disproportionately on modifying individual behaviour and action. This study explores the intersection and overlap in factors, actions and decisions made by actors in each part of the transition process to better understand the dynamic nature of job transition and its implications for re-employment and future job quality.This research considers job transition from two forms of displacement - job displacement and worker displacement. It comprises a cross-national comparative study of displacement from public sector work in Ontario, Canada and Scotland, UK. Forty expert and stakeholder interviews were carried out addressing different aspects of job transition, targeting academic and policy experts, employers/senior managers, union representatives and labour market programme service providers. Furthermore, 38 semi-structured work history interviews were conducted with displaced workers along with a follow-up survey.This research argues that downsizing policy and labour market interventions appear to view any job as a better outcome than redundancy. Where organisational policies maintain employment, the emphasis is on maintaining extrinsic features of work. Through practices like salary protection and lateral transfers, good quality work beyond equivalent remuneration is a bi-product rather that a central consideration. The study finds that individuals, faced with particular processes and limited information, modify their behaviour to protect valued aspects of work including, but not limited to, extrinsic job factors.Conceptually, this research contributes to knowledge on job loss and re-employment, organisational downsizing practice and job quality. Empirically, it contributes to debates on public sector restructuring following the Great Recession of 2008.