In order to reduce unemployment, it is often recommended that industry-level wage bargaining in Germany should be replaced by a more decentralized system. This paper provides a critical assessment of the current wage bargaining institutions and reexamines the case for a more decentralized...

This paper investigates the increase in wage inequality, the decline in collective bargaining, and the development of the gender wage gap in West Germany between 2001 and 2006. Based on detailed linked employer-employee data, we show that wage inequality is rising strongly – driven not only by...

This paper studies the importance of employer-specific determinants in escaping low earnings in Germany. To address the initial conditions problem and the endogeneity of employer retention, we model (intra-firm) low-pay transitions using a multivariate Probit model that accounts for selection...

Der vorliegende Beitrag liefert eine Zusammenfassung der Ergebnisse der Evaluation der Einführung des Mindestlohnes in der Abfallwirtschaft zum 01.01.2010. Die Evaluation setzt sich aus einem Branchenbild sowie einer kausalen Wirkungsanalyse des Mindestlohnes auf Basis einer...

The paper investigates whether (unsubsidised) fixed-term contracts (FTCs) are a means of integration for the unemployed in the West German labour market. This is done by analysing whether entering into an FTC improves the employment opportunities of an unemployed person in terms of the...

Ob und wie lange Jugendliche nach Abschluß ihrer Lehre weiterhin im Ausbildungsbetrieb arbeiten, ist eine Fragestellung, deren Beantwortung für das Verständnis des Arbeitsmarktes in mehrfacher Hinsicht von Nutzen sein kann. Zum einen liefern Abgänge aus dem Ausbildungsbetrieb ohne...

This econometric study deals with the question as to what extent apprentices after successfully completing their training stay with the firm where they have received their training and, if so, how long that job tenure holds. Determinants of both decisions can be seen from both the employer`s and...

We argue that in labor markets with central wage bargaining wage flexibility varies systematically across the wage distribution: local wage flexibility is more relevant for the upper part of the wage distribution, and flexibility of wages negotiated under central wage bargaining affects the...

This paper investigates whether and in what sense the west German wage structure has been "rigid" in the 1990s. To test the hypothesis that a rigid wage structure has been responsible for rising low-skilled unemployment, I propose a methodology which makes less restrictive identifying...

Rising wage inequality in the U.S. and Britain (especially in the 1980s) and rising continental European unemployment (with rather stable wage inequality) have led to a popular view in the economics profession that these two phenomena are related to negative relative demand shocks against the...