In Spain, if an employer fires a worker that worker is entitled to 45 days' severance pay per year of service. So if a worker has worked at a company for 8 years, that worker receives a severance payment equal to almost a full year salary. Do you think U.S. workers would benefit from having that kind of right? You'd better ask "what would that cost, and who would bear that cost?" How do you think such a policy would affect your ability to get a job, and the unemployment rate? Consider the following:
"Massive joblessness could further slow Spain's climb out of debt. Even in good times, unemployment never got below about 8%. Now the rate is nudging 20% overall and close to 45% among young people—statistics that reveal to economists a deeply flawed employment market.
"Wages are set through a complicated system of bargaining with trade unions that imposes wage increases on firms even if their business can't afford it. Because wages are inflexible, Spanish companies can cut labor costs only by firing workers. Yet some workers, hired on so-called indefinite contracts, are deeply entrenched, not least because they are entitled to 45 days' severance pay per year of service."
