ABSTRACT
The chapter distils main lessons for labour market reform design from the financial assistance programme of Portugal. The Portuguese labour market was widely considered as one of the most heavily regulated among advanced economies, and the programme included a large number of reform conditions on employment protection, working time, unemployment benefits, active labour market policies and the wage-setting framework. As compared with the experience of other Southern European countries that underwent adjustment programmes after the crisis, especially Greece, in Portugal many labour market reforms were agreed in detail from the start and implemented rapidly and decisively. What helped was the consensus among experts on main reform priorities pre-dating the crisis and the fact that reforms were supported by tripartite agreements between the governments and social partners, underscoring the key role of ownership for unlocking reform inertia. ?
