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“Our study proves that one of the main factors affecting progress of Spanish productivity is the high rate of temporary workers between industries with high technological intensity. These sectors are also those that provide the highest aggregate productivity growth (of all sectors) to our economy, “says Welcome Ortega, author of the study and researcher at the UMA.

The labor law reform of 1984 introduced in our country the possibility of new temporary contracts. And after the subsequent reforms of 1994, 1997 and 2001, the use of temporary contracts has decreased only marginally since 1995 in some sectors.

“We agree that this kind might have multiple beneficial effects such as providing companies the flexibility to adjust the templates to fluctuations in demand, companies provide workers to replace sick leave or maternity, or favoring entrepreneurs open new businesses by reducing fixed costs, “says the researcher.

However, according to the study, the increase of temporary contracts has penalized the productivity growth in Spain and has generated greater instability in employment.

The proportion of temporary, temporary result derived from wage employment and total – in 2004 reached 34.6% in Spain, even to 47.2% in regions such as Andalusia. For that year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as a whole this ratio stood at 13%.

“Spain is three times the rate of temporary employment of countries, from a cultural and labor market regulations are coming as France and Italy,” said Ortega.

The use of temporary contracts is distorted

“It is clear that employers use temporary contracts as a mechanism of adjustment of employment and, therefore, dominate this type of temporary contracts on the selection. Also, the temporary increase reduces the possibilities of investing in human capital or to receive specific training in the company, “says Ortega.

The evidence from this research indicate that in the case of construction and services, increasing the proportion of temporary workers has not had a significant effect on productivity growth. However, the energy sector and advanced manufacturing is a “clear” decline in growth rate with respect to labor productivity.

“The high seasonality may encourage further sectoral shifts in industries that traditionally prevails this time work, such as low productivity industries (agriculture, construction and catering), and divert investment into them. A further impediment to the development of high added value sectors, “they say.

“We need an urgent reform of the labor market and sectoral policies that are effective for increasing permanent recruitment, at least in the companies belonging to these branches of production,” says the expert

For companies engaged in R & D, the movement of researchers to competitors is an important challenge. Even if the company’s innovations are patented, the output of these employees can leak key information and knowledge to competitors. What researchers in an R & D are more likely to move to the competition? This research by Neus Palomeras and Eduardo Melero, Department of Business Economics of the UC3M attempts to answer this question.

The most notable finding of the study, published in the journal Management Science, shows that, paradoxically, the inventors involved in the key areas of a company are the most “palatable” to competitors and those who are more likely to end up leaving to other companies innovative. Another noteworthy finding, the researchers claim, is that inventors working in larger teams are less “attractive” to competitors. “This means – Eduardo Melero said – that companies organize their innovation activities in working groups will be better able to retain their workers because it is more difficult to identify who provides the key knowledge in addition to that, obviously, be a whole team to another company is more complicated, “he explains.

The results obtained in this study suggest that companies hire those inventors of competition which can absorb knowledge. Thus, by recognizing the characteristics of the researchers most likely to leave, managers can design policies for human resources and R & D to make the market less attractive to these workers, and therefore able to retain them, target these UC3M teachers.

During the research the authors of the study took as a reference one of the leading companies in the field of technology to the nineties. They analyzed the movement to other firms that patented inventor at IBM and found those who were authors of innovations in higher quality, those with expertise in key business areas, in addition, other companies do not dominate were more likely to leave the company. “Keep in mind that companies’ human factor is important in transferring knowledge between them,” said Neus Palomeras, he decided to start this research to confirm this fact in a previous study of the licensing market.

The figure of the inventor has always been important to obtain innovations clearly. “What is true – added Professor Melero – is that as knowledge has become more complex and increased professional specialization of research and development companies, the figure of an inventor who has a broad vision, and complete global innovations that are involved gains value. “