Over the last forty years, globalization and the trends of integration of capital and labour markets have increased the uncertainty and instability of developed economies. These processes have led to profound transformations in the functioning of European economies and have especially affected the dynamics of labour markets. Although these trends have influenced European economies in general, differences in institutional and economic structures within the continent have conditioned the adaptation of different countries. As indicated by Hall and Soskice (2001), the differences between varieties of capitalism help explain how different countries have adapted unequally to the changes of recent decades.

In the case of Spain, the tradition of state intervention in the labour market has combined the effects of intense regulatory activity with the specific characteristics of a dictatorial regime in continual transformation, followed by a process of transition to democracy and the development of a modern economy within the European Union. Despite all these changes, a series of structural problems persist in the Spanish labour market: strong duality, high wage volatility and low employment levels, among others.

The aim of this research is to examine the institutional determinants that affect the behaviour of the Spanish labour market in the long term, from Franco dictatorship up to the present. To this end, a study in comparative perspective is proposed that makes it possible to analyse the common institutional elements present in a selection of Southern European countries: Spain, Italy and Portugal. This group of countries is chosen due to their similarities in labour market regulation and economic structure, distinct from Northern European countries. This project will undertake an institutional analysis in comparative perspective of the regulation and behaviour of this group of countries from the end of the Second World War up to the present. The evolution of these structures will be analysed from the viewpoint of both employment and unemployment. To compare and contrast the results of the institutional and qualitative approach, quantitative analysis tools will be used, applied to a new wage database. Specifically, a database is to be developed using successive wage surveys from 1960 to the present, in a format that is comparable and interoperable with other international databases.

In order to achieve these general objectives, five specific objectives have been established:

1. Collect and compile data and statistics and create series for the main indicators of labour market functioning in a database that covers the entire period of study and is comparable and interoperable with other similar international databases.

2. Prepare a comparative study of the evolution of labour market regulation in Spain, Portugal and Italy which makes it possible to compare and contrast the differences that exist between these Southern European countries.

3. Conduct an empirical analysis which, by using the database created and quantitative comparison tools, makes it possible to provide a considered assessment of the influence of institutional factors in the functioning of the Spanish labour market in contrast to the other Southern European countries.

4. Examine the role of the institutions of the Franco dictatorship in the creation of the Spanish labour market and their structural influence, in order to try to contribute to the analysis of the real effects of the dictatorship in this area.