This landmark text combines depth and breadth of coverage with recent, cutting-edge work in all the major areas of modern labor economics. Its command of the literature and its coverage of the latest theoretical, methodological, and empirical developments make it a valuable resource for postgraduate students of Economics as well as practising labour economists.

This second edition has been substantially updated and augmented. It incorporates examples drawn from many countries, and presents empirical methods using contributions that have proved to be milestones in labour economics. 

This edition devotes more space to the analysis of public policy and the levers available to policy makers, with new chapters on such topics as discrimination, globalization, income redistribution, employment protection, and the minimum wage or labor market programs for the unemployed. Theories are explained on the basis of the simplest possible models, which are in turn related to empirical results. Mathematical appendixes provide a toolkit for understanding the models.

“This is the book to use for a graduate labor course anywhere in the world. The topics and research covered in the new edition are right up-to-date, and the level of the book is perfect for Ph.D. students. I used the earlier edition in my course and would use this too.”

—Daniel S. Hamermesh, Professor in Economics, Royal Holloway University of London,
and Sue Killam Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Texas at Austin

“Labor Economics brings facts to motivate theory that is carefully exposed. Empirical methods and results are integrated with the theory and the book covers an exceptional range of topics, models, and empirical research. The depth and the range of topics make Labor Economics a required volume on the shelves of all academic economists.”

—Zvi Eckstein, Dean, The School of Economics, The Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya

“This is an impressive textbook. It will show graduate students that modern labor economics is an exciting area of research.”

—Erik Plug, Professor of Economics, University of Amsterdam

“This is an excellent textbook that provides a comprehensive introduction to the principles of modern labor economics and clear, rigorous, intuitive expositions of the major models students will need to navigate the field. Each chapter begins with the basic theory underlying modern applications, and then leads into an overview of recent empirical implementations, usually focusing on one or two relevant papers, and discusses the common econometric challenges associated with each topic. This layout is very useful and intuitive for thinking about the problems and for tying theory to empirics. The book was a pleasure to read and helped shape my thinking about the proper way to introduce ideas into a graduate labor course and to demonstrate the power and flexibility of the models.”

—Laura Turner, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Toronto

About the Author

Pierre Cahuc is Professor of Economics at École Polytechnique, Director of the Macroeconomic Laboratory at CREST-ENSAE, Program Director at IZA, Research Fellow at CEPR and member of the Council of Economic Analysis of the Prime Minister.|Stéphane Carcillo is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne.|André Zylberberg is Emeritus Research Director at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and member of the Paris School of Economics (PSE).