{
  "title": "Wage Compression, Employment Restrictions and Unemployment: The Case of Mauritius",
  "publication": "IMF Working Papers, November 1, 2004",
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  "summary": "Governments often intervene in labor markets with the aim of reducing inequality and promoting employment. Such intervention often results in wage compression and restrictions on how firms use their workers.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Summary findings",
      "content": "- Governments often intervene in labor markets with the aim of reducing inequality and promoting employment; such intervention often results in wage compression and restrictions on how firms use their workers.  \n- This paper investigates the impact of such interventions on the labor market conditions faced by low-skill workers in Mauritius.  \n- It finds that even relatively minor intervention can dramatically increase:\n  - the fragility of jobs,\n  - the length of unemployment spells,\n  - the extent of unemployment and labor market churning.  \n- With institutions of the type studied here common across many different types of countries, these results have relatively general implications."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Subjects and keywords",
      "content": "- Subject: Job destruction, Labor, Labor markets, Unemployment, Wage compression, Wages\n- Keywords: determination process, dislocation cost, equilibrium wage function, job creation, Job destruction, Labor Market Restrictions, Labor markets, low-skill worker, quality firm-worker match, Unemployment, Wage Compression, wage distribution, Wages, Western Europe, worker redeployment, WP"
    },
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      "heading": "Key statistics and publication metadata",
      "content": "- Publication title: Wage Compression, Employment Restrictions and Unemployment: The Case of Mauritius  \n- Publication type: IMF Working Papers  \n- Date: November 1, 2004  \n- Pages: 21  \n- Volume: 2004  \n- Issue: 205  \n- Series: Working Paper No. 2004/205  \n- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451874587.001  \n- Stock No: WPIEA2052004  \n- ISBN: 9781451874587  \n- ISSN: 1018-5941  \n- Preview citation (format: Chicago): International Monetary Fund. \"Wage Compression, Employment Restrictions and Unemployment: The Case of Mauritius\", IMF Working Papers 2004, 205 (2004), accessed 9/18/2026, https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451874587.001"
    },
    {
      "heading": "Implications",
      "content": "- Labor market interventions that compress wages and restrict firm practices can substantially worsen outcomes for low-skill workers by increasing job fragility, unemployment duration, and labor market churn.  \n- Because the institutional features examined are common across many countries, the paper’s findings have relatively general implications for the design and evaluation of labor market policies.\n\nSource: IMF Working Paper — \"Wage Compression, Employment Restrictions and Unemployment: The Case of Mauritius\" (Working Paper No. 2004/205).\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- wp04205\n  - wp04205 (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - wp04205 (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/31/wage-compression-employment-restrictions-and-unemployment-the-case-of-mauritius-17784"
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    "Published: November 1, 2004",
    "Series: IMF Working Papers",
    "DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451874587.001",
    "Governments often intervene in labor markets with the aim of reducing inequality and promoting employment; such intervention often results in wage compression and restrictions on how firms use their workers.",
    "This paper investigates the impact of such interventions on the labor market conditions faced by low-skill workers in Mauritius.",
    "It finds that even relatively minor intervention can dramatically increase:",
    "With institutions of the type studied here common across many different types of countries, these results have relatively general implications.",
    "Subject: Job destruction, Labor, Labor markets, Unemployment, Wage compression, Wages",
    "Keywords: determination process, dislocation cost, equilibrium wage function, job creation, Job destruction, Labor Market Restrictions, Labor markets, low-skill worker, quality firm-worker match, Unemployment, Wage Compression, wage distribution, Wages, Western Europe, worker redeployment, WP",
    "Publication title: Wage Compression, Employment Restrictions and Unemployment: The Case of Mauritius",
    "Publication type: IMF Working Papers",
    "Date: November 1, 2004",
    "Pages: 21",
    "Volume: 2004",
    "Issue: 205",
    "Series: Working Paper No. 2004/205",
    "DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451874587.001",
    "Stock No: WPIEA2052004",
    "ISBN: 9781451874587",
    "ISSN: 1018-5941",
    "Preview citation (format: Chicago): International Monetary Fund. \"Wage Compression, Employment Restrictions and Unemployment: The Case of Mauritius\", IMF Working Papers 2004, 205 (2004), accessed 9/18/2026, https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451874587.001",
    "Labor market interventions that compress wages and restrict firm practices can substantially worsen outcomes for low-skill workers by increasing job fragility, unemployment duration, and labor market churn.",
    "Because the institutional features examined are common across many countries, the paper’s findings have relatively general implications for the design and evaluation of labor market policies.",
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