Strictness of employment protection — Individual dismissals (regular contracts) by country
The OECD indicators of employment protection are synthetic indicators of the strictness of regulation on dismissals and the use of temporary contracts. For each year, indicators refer to regulation in force on the 1st of January. For more information and full methodology, see OECD Indicators of Employment...
What the numbers show
Strictness of employment protection — Individual dismissals (regular contracts) is currently reported for 48 countries. The highest value is 4.08 0-6 scale in Indonesia; the lowest is 0.0933 0-6 scale in United States.
The median across all reporting countries is 2.04 0-6 scale, and the mean is 2.08 0-6 scale.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 44.
Over the past decade 7 countries rose and 6 fell. The largest increase was in Netherlands (up 11.5%), and the largest decrease in Lithuania (down 16.7%).
Strictness of employment protection — Individual dismissals: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indonesia | 4.08 0-6 scale | 2012 | — | flat |
| 1 | Netherlands | 3.61 0-6 scale | 2025 | up 11.5% | rising |
| 2 | India | 3.29 0-6 scale | 2012 | — | flat |
| 2 | Latvia | 3.02 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | flat |
| 3 | Czechia | 3.26 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | falling |
| 3 | China | 3.26 0-6 scale | 2012 | — | flat |
| 3 | Türkiye | 2.98 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | rising |
| 4 | Poland | 2.33 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | flat |
| 5 | Portugal | 3.14 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | falling |
| 5 | Slovenia | 2.08 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | falling |
| 6 | Russia | 3.06 0-6 scale | 2012 | — | flat |
| 6 | Lithuania | 1.88 0-6 scale | 2025 | down 16.7% | falling |
| 7 | Chile | 2.67 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | flat |
| 7 | Estonia | 1.81 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | falling |
| 8 | Germany | 2.6 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | flat |
| 9 | France | 2.56 0-6 scale | 2025 | down 0.8% | flat |
| 10 | Italy | 2.56 0-6 scale | 2025 | down 12.8% | falling |
| 11 | Austria | 2.48 0-6 scale | 2025 | up 8.3% | falling |
| 12 | Israel | 2.37 0-6 scale | 2024 | unchanged | flat |
| 13 | Norway | 2.33 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | flat |
| 14 | Sweden | 2.32 0-6 scale | 2025 | down 5.1% | falling |
| 15 | Greece | 2.19 0-6 scale | 2025 | down 8.8% | falling |
| 16 | South Africa | 2.16 0-6 scale | 2012 | — | flat |
| 17 | Luxembourg | 2.14 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | flat |
| 18 | Mexico | 2.09 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | falling |
| 19 | Spain | 2.05 0-6 scale | 2025 | up 4.2% | falling |
| 20 | OECD | 2.04 0-6 scale | 2024 | up 0.1% | flat |
| 21 | Finland | 2 0-6 scale | 2025 | down 4.0% | falling |
| 22 | Peru | 1.92 0-6 scale | 2019 | unchanged | flat |
| 23 | Belgium | 1.82 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | rising |
| 24 | New Zealand | 1.81 0-6 scale | 2025 | up 10.1% | rising |
| 25 | Argentina | 1.77 0-6 scale | 2025 | up 5.0% | rising |
| 26 | Australia | 1.67 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | rising |
| 27 | Paraguay | 1.65 0-6 scale | 2019 | unchanged | flat |
| 28 | Hungary | 1.59 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | falling |
| 29 | Iceland | 1.56 0-6 scale | 2024 | unchanged | flat |
| 30 | Denmark | 1.53 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | flat |
| 31 | Brazil | 1.53 0-6 scale | 2012 | — | rising |
| 32 | Switzerland | 1.43 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | flat |
| 33 | Saudi Arabia | 1.37 0-6 scale | 2012 | — | flat |
| 34 | Japan | 1.37 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | falling |
| 35 | United Kingdom | 1.35 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | flat |
| 36 | Ireland | 1.31 0-6 scale | 2025 | up 6.8% | flat |
| 37 | Colombia | 1.21 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | flat |
| 38 | Uruguay | 1.13 0-6 scale | 2019 | unchanged | flat |
| 39 | Costa Rica | 0.6825 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | flat |
| 40 | Canada | 0.5873 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | flat |
| 41 | United States | 0.0933 0-6 scale | 2025 | unchanged | flat |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- Slovak Republic 2.51 0-6 scale
- Korea 2.42 0-6 scale
About this data
The OECD indicators of employment protection are synthetic indicators of the strictness of regulation on dismissals and the use of temporary contracts. For each year, indicators refer to regulation in force on the 1st of January. For more information and full methodology, see OECD Indicators of Employment Protection webpage Last data update: May 2022 OECD statistics contact: ELS.Contact@oecd.org