Does labour protection influence mental-health responses to employment shocks? Evidence on older workers in Europe

Abstract

This paper investigates if and how Employment Protection Legislation (EPL) influences mental-health responses to older workers’ job disruptions in Europe. It exploits labour market shocks during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is based on European data from the SHARE survey, in which each country is characterised by a different level of EPL. The analysis controls for workers’ individual characteristics and other contextual factors via propensity score matching. Results show that mental-health distress following job disruptions depends on the level of EPL, with significantly higher distress in countries in which EPL is more binding, especially among individuals with a lower education level. These findings suggest to consider the costs and benefits of mitigating measures for European countries with a high EPL, especially for older citizens with disadvantaged backgrounds.