[matthewowen]

I don't have the data or expertise to determine whether or not the increased stability provided by said employment laws (and by the differing approaches to unemployment benefits / 'the social safety net' which go hand in hand with them) provides consumer confidence that (at least in principle) increases demand to an extent that offsets the economic disadvantages of making companies more cautious about growth. It's also hard to determine whether there are social benefits to such policies that outweigh possible economic disadvantages.

Of course, this is rather a side-issue: many countries have a concept of 'temporary' vs 'permanent' employees, which introduces different dynamics and problems into the system.

It is an interesting topic. I suspect it won't be resolved in a comment thread on HN.

[davidw]

> I suspect it won't be resolved in a comment thread on HN.

Nor will Anonymous hacking some company whose employees, in the grand scheme of things, are pretty well off.