Tax Wedge and its Impact on Employment in OECD Countries

Our study explores the relationship between the tax wedge, unemployment rate and employment rate on the labor market in a comparative framework, highlighting existing approaches in the OECD countries. There are considerable differences in the level of the tax wedge between the OECD countries. The re...

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Main Authors: Radu Claudia Florina, Schebesch Klaus Bruno, Fenișer Cristina
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Sciendo 2025-09-01
Series:Studia Universitatis Vasile Goldis Arad, Seria Stiinte Economice
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.2478/sues-2025-0015
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author Radu Claudia Florina
Schebesch Klaus Bruno
Fenișer Cristina
author_facet Radu Claudia Florina
Schebesch Klaus Bruno
Fenișer Cristina
author_sort Radu Claudia Florina
collection DOAJ
description Our study explores the relationship between the tax wedge, unemployment rate and employment rate on the labor market in a comparative framework, highlighting existing approaches in the OECD countries. There are considerable differences in the level of the tax wedge between the OECD countries. The relationship between the tax wedge, employment rate and unemployment rate is a complex one, involving a broad approach, but appropriate to the particularities of each country. Such a comparative analysis at the level of the OECD countries offers us interesting perspectives, in order to adjust the policies that aim, on the one hand, to ensure budget revenues and, on the other hand, to stimulate economic growth and support employment. In order to identify the link between them, we used hierarchical cluster analysis, for a sample of 37 OECD countries. After analyzing the data from the OECD countries, we concluded that there is a positive correlation between the level of the tax wedge and the unemployment rate. Thus, in countries where the tax wedge is higher, the unemployment rate tends to be higher and vice versa. But this is verified especially for cluster 2, which includes Romania and most of the countries in Central-Eastern Europe. Therefore, it is particularly important to adopt those fiscal measures that stimulate employment and have beneficial effects on the results of the labor market. The associated new data modeling contributes to filling a gap in the statistical analysis of tax wedge implications by using a combination of quantile regression and clustering, finding robust country subgroups that enable refined, context-sensitive policy recommendations.
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spelling doaj-art-643ee6aa9edf421fa00a73817c7bcbb22025-08-20T03:50:00ZengSciendoStudia Universitatis Vasile Goldis Arad, Seria Stiinte Economice2285-30652025-09-0135312215210.2478/sues-2025-0015Tax Wedge and its Impact on Employment in OECD CountriesRadu Claudia Florina0Schebesch Klaus Bruno1Fenișer Cristina21”Vasile Goldiș” Western University of Arad, Romania, Faculty of Economics, Computer Science and Engineering2”Vasile Goldiș” Western University of Arad, Romania, Faculty of Economics, Computer Science and Engineering3Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Robotics and Production ManagementOur study explores the relationship between the tax wedge, unemployment rate and employment rate on the labor market in a comparative framework, highlighting existing approaches in the OECD countries. There are considerable differences in the level of the tax wedge between the OECD countries. The relationship between the tax wedge, employment rate and unemployment rate is a complex one, involving a broad approach, but appropriate to the particularities of each country. Such a comparative analysis at the level of the OECD countries offers us interesting perspectives, in order to adjust the policies that aim, on the one hand, to ensure budget revenues and, on the other hand, to stimulate economic growth and support employment. In order to identify the link between them, we used hierarchical cluster analysis, for a sample of 37 OECD countries. After analyzing the data from the OECD countries, we concluded that there is a positive correlation between the level of the tax wedge and the unemployment rate. Thus, in countries where the tax wedge is higher, the unemployment rate tends to be higher and vice versa. But this is verified especially for cluster 2, which includes Romania and most of the countries in Central-Eastern Europe. Therefore, it is particularly important to adopt those fiscal measures that stimulate employment and have beneficial effects on the results of the labor market. The associated new data modeling contributes to filling a gap in the statistical analysis of tax wedge implications by using a combination of quantile regression and clustering, finding robust country subgroups that enable refined, context-sensitive policy recommendations.https://doi.org/10.2478/sues-2025-0015tax wedgeemployment rateunemployment ratelaborcluster analysise62j32j62j64
spellingShingle Radu Claudia Florina
Schebesch Klaus Bruno
Fenișer Cristina
Tax Wedge and its Impact on Employment in OECD Countries
Studia Universitatis Vasile Goldis Arad, Seria Stiinte Economice
tax wedge
employment rate
unemployment rate
labor
cluster analysis
e62
j32
j62
j64
title Tax Wedge and its Impact on Employment in OECD Countries
title_full Tax Wedge and its Impact on Employment in OECD Countries
title_fullStr Tax Wedge and its Impact on Employment in OECD Countries
title_full_unstemmed Tax Wedge and its Impact on Employment in OECD Countries
title_short Tax Wedge and its Impact on Employment in OECD Countries
title_sort tax wedge and its impact on employment in oecd countries
topic tax wedge
employment rate
unemployment rate
labor
cluster analysis
e62
j32
j62
j64
url https://doi.org/10.2478/sues-2025-0015
work_keys_str_mv AT raduclaudiaflorina taxwedgeanditsimpactonemploymentinoecdcountries
AT schebeschklausbruno taxwedgeanditsimpactonemploymentinoecdcountries
AT fenisercristina taxwedgeanditsimpactonemploymentinoecdcountries