The paper analyses regional relative wages using individual and firmlevel data from Hungary 1986-96. In regions hit hard by the transition shock labour costs fell substantially; the estimated elasticities of wages with respect to regional unemployment were in a range typical of mature market...

The substantial rise of wage inequality in Central and Eastern Europe has attracted the attention of sociologists, concerned with social equity, and economists for whom it indicated the growing differentiation and restructuring of relative prices on the labour market. This research wanted to...

The paper analyses the evolution of relative wages using individual wage data, and the contribution of skills to productivity using firmlevel information from Hungary, 1986-99. Its main conclusion is that skills obsolescence was, and still is, an important aspect of postcommunist transition. The...

The paper analyses changes in the demand for unskilled, young skilled, and older skilled workers during the post-communist transition in Hungary. Systems of cost share equations derived from the translog cost function are estimated for cross-sections of large firms observed in the period...

The effect of minimum wages on employment has been a matter of debate for more than a decade. Apart from a few cases (Puerto Rico, Indonesia, Columbia) the empirical works analysed the aftermaths of minor increases in the minimum wage, and yielded mixed results. Hungary 2000-2002 provides a...

The paper is based on data of individual work histories of the 1993/94 representative Roma survey in Hungary. First the disappearance of full employment of Roma in the 1984-1994 period is documented by the use of a quasi cross-sectional macro model and the patterns of employment characteristics...

This paper presents new evidence on the patterns of price and wage adjustment in European firms and on the extent of nominal rigidities. It uses a unique dataset collected through a firm-level survey conducted in a broad range of countries and covering various sectors. Several conclusions are...

Regional unemployment and non-participation rates are higher, more disperse, and more stable in Europe than in the U.S. This paper helps understand what may cause this phenomenon. Specifically, it looks at the role of migration in regional differences. I analyze the adjustment mechanisms of...

The paper analyzes the changes in the relative labor market position of the public sector employees, using both macro-level employment statistics and large wage surveys. While competitive employment decreased by more than 30 per cent during the transition, number of public employees have not...

Transition from socialist to capitalist economy led to enormous changes in earnings and employment. In our study a long-horizon descriptive analysis is presented about the major trends, including the last fifteen years of socialism. Education, gender, calendar time, age and vintage effects are...