A long tradition in economics says that if an employer and a worker agree a contract on any terms both parties must be made better-off or otherwise they would not have agreed to the contract in the first place. If that were true, there would then be no case for regulating the employment contract. However most countries do regulate the employment contract in many ways. There are minimum wages, guaranteed paid holidays, maternity and paternity leave, unfair dismissal laws, health and safety laws, regulations on overtime premia (though not in the UK) and on working hours.

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6 June 2024

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Politics and Policy

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https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/smarter-not-more-regulation-will-lead-to-better-work/

This Blog is published under the centre's Community Wellbeing programme, Labour programme.