Enemy of Labour? Analysing the Employment Effects of Mergers and Acquisitions

This paper analyses the employment effects of mergers and acquisitions by using matched establishment-level data from Finland over the period of 1989-2003. The data covers all sectors. We compare the employment effects of cross-border M&As with the effects arising from two different types of domestic M&As and internal restructurings. The results reveal that cross-border M&As lead to downsizing in manufacturing employment. The effects of cross-border M&As on employment in non-manufacturing are much weaker. Changes in ownership associated with domestic M&As and internal restructurings also typically cause employment losses, but these is interesting sectoral variation.