The legal basis of collective bargaining in Austria is laid down by the Labour Constitution Act (ArbVG). According to the ArbVG, collective agreements can be concluded only between collective organisations of employers and employees. Therefore, the Austrian labour law systematically benefits...

The Belgian collective bargaining system is highly institutionalised and coordinated. Over 90% of employees are covered by a collective agreement, placing Belgium among the countries with the highest coverage in Europe. Also, the Belgian trade unions have a relatively high level of membership...

The right to collective bargaining and the binding character of collective agreements is enshrined in the Spanish Constitution (Section 37.1). The system of collective bargaining is thoroughly regulated in Title III of the Workers’ Statute. In particular, Section 82.3 establishes the legally...

This background paper from the European Foundation has been drafted to coincide with the European Parliament's hearing on 12 September 2007 in Brussels on the "Role of the minimum wage/minimum income for social inclusion in the EU". The focus of the paper is on minimum wage provisions in Europe;...

This study examines whether it would be appropriate to introduce a guaranteed minimum income (GMI) at European level. It begins by describing the features of GMI systems implemented in the Member States for individuals of working age who are fit for work as well as the challenges they encounter...

This paper analyses information from survey data collected in the framework of the Eurosystem’s Wage Dynamics Network (WDN) on patterns of firm-level adjustment to shocks. We document that the relative intensity and the character of price vs. cost and wage vs. employment adjustments in...

In this paper we estimate the degree of real wage flexibility in 19 EU countries in a wage Phillips curve panel framework. We find evidence for a reaction of wage growth to unemployment and productivity growth. However, due to unemployment persistence, over time the real wage response weakens...

We examine job flows in the 1990s for a sample of 13 European countries. By using a dataset of continuing firms that covers all sectors, we find firm characteristics to be important determinants of job flows, with smaller and younger firms within services typically having a larger degree of job...

The paper examines whether the pattern of growth in euro area employment seen in the period 1997-2001 differed from that recorded in the past and what could be the reasons for that. First, a standard employment equation is estimated for the euro area as a whole. This shows that the lagged impact...