Using panel data for West Germany and Great Britain, we show that there are striking differences in overtime work and overtime compensation in the two countries in the 1990s. Our estimates reveal that the observed overtime patterns affect both the evolution of the monthly labour earnings...

In the 1990s overtime incidence in Great Britain and West Germany is quite similar, while the average amount of hours of overtime for full-time male workers with overtime in Great Britain is roughly twice those in Germany for all years. We observe striking differences between the two countries...

Based on the hypothesis that microdata are of crucial importance for internationally competitiveeconomic research and scientific advice in economic and social policy, the authorsdevelop various proposals for an improved data supply for empirical work in Germany. Present shortcomings are mainly...