fRDB-IMF project
Fondazione Rodolfo Debenedetti have collaborated with IMF to build a brand new database which collects information on Minimum Wages, Unemployment Benefits and Employment Protection Legislation around the world. This database, which covers a long time span from 1980 to 2005, contains the following information for 91 countries:
Minimum Wages
Minimum wages, calculated on a monthly basis
Median wages, calculated on a monthly basis
Average wages, calculated on a monthly basis
Unemployment Benefits
First and second-year gross replacement rates
Overall average GRR for two years
UB coverage
Employment Protection Legislation
Maximum advance notice
Advance notice period after 9 months of service, in months
Advance notice period after 4 years of service, in months
Advance notice period after 20 years of service, in months
Maximum Severance payment
Severance payment after 9 months of service, in months: a lump-sum payment to the dismissed employee at the time of cessation of employment
Severance payment after 4 years of service, in months
A full description of the database (coding, assumptions, country detailed information on data collection) can be found in the following paper by Mariya Aleksynska and Martin Schindler:
"Labour Market Regulation in Low-, Middle- and High-Income Countries: A New Panel Database" (2011), IMF working paper.
Credits: Mariya Aleksynska (mariya.aleksynska@cepii.fr) and Martin Schindler
Papers published using these data
Boeri, T. and Macis, M. "Do Unemployment Benefits Promote or Hinder Job Reallocation?", Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 93(1), pp. 109-125.
Data, which are joint property of the Fondazione Rodolfo Debenedetti and IMF, are password protected. In order to obtain free access to this database, users are kindly required to ask for them by writing to info@frdb.org (breafly specifying the research purposes).