OECD Indicators of Employment Protection

The OECD indicators of employment protection legislation measure the procedures and costs involved in dismissing individuals or groups of workers and the procedures involved in hiring workers on fixed-term or temporary work agency contracts. Indicators for Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries have been constructed in cooperation with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and are drawn from the OECD-IDB database on summary indicators of Employment Protection Legislation (EPL) in Latin American and the Caribbean

The indicators have been compiled using the Secretariat’s own reading of statutory laws, collective bargaining agreements and case law as well as contributions from officials from OECD member countries and advice from country experts. The OECD Secretariat and the IDB equally share the responsibility of the interpretation of LAC countries’ statutory laws, collective bargaining agreements and case law.

It is important to note that employment protection refers to only one dimension of the complex set of factors that influence labour market flexibility. For information on other labour market policies and institutions in OECD countries, see the OECD Employment Database.‌‌

OECD INdicators oF EMployment protection legislation (for download)

>> Download the detailed data on the OECD indicators of employment protection for OECD and non-OECD countries (Excel file)

Data contain:

the synthetic indicators of the strictness of regulation on dismissals and the use of temporary contracts
the 21 items used to compile the synthetic indicators

Latest data on the OECD indicators of employment protection

Time series data on the OECD Indicators of employment protection

>> Download the synthetic indicators on the OECD indicators of employment protection for OECD and non-OECD countries through OECD.Stat, the online statistical platform of the OECD

detailed information on employMent protection by country

The description of employment protection in all countries classified with respect to each of the 21 detailed items is reported in the detailed description of employment protection legislation in OECD countries, 2012-13

For a description of employment protection in individual countries, click on the links below.

>> OECD countries

>> Non-OECD Latin American & Carribean countries*	>> Other non-OECD countries and territories
Argentina Bahamas Barbados Bolivia Brazil Colombia Costa Rica Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Jamaica Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru Dominican Republic Uruguay Venezuela	Albania Bosnia-Herzegovina China Croatia FYR of Macedonia India Indonesia Kazakhstan Kosovo Latvia Lithuania Malaysia Montenegro Russian Federation Saudi Arabia Serbia South Africa Thailand Tunisia
*Indicators for these countries have been constructed within a cooperation project between with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and are drawn from the OECD-IDB database on summary indicators of Employment Protection Legislation (EPL) in Latin American and the Caribbean . Indicators for other countries are under full responsibility of the OECD Secretariat. This document is without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.

RELATED documents

July 2013: "Protecting jobs, enhancing flexibility: A new look at employment protection legislation", Chapter 2 of the 2013 Edtion of the OECD Employment Outlook
This chapter presents a review of Employment Protection Legislation for 34 OECD countries and 9 emerging economies (including all G20 countries), with a special focus on reforms undertaken between 2008 and 2013. It also presents updated estimates of the OECD employment protection indicators to cover, for most countries, the legislation in force on January 1^st 2013. It also provides evidence on the enforcement of EP rules through courts and dispute resolution procedures.
"Non-regular employment, job security and the labour market divide", Chapter 4 of the 2014 Edition of the OECD Employment Outlook (September 2014).
Details on the methodology used to compile the OECD indicators of employment protection

OECD Employment protection indicators published in 2009 (excel)
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Employment policies and data

OECD Indicators of Employment Protection