In an international hierarchy of labour costs, Austria ranks 11th, after Germany, Switzerland, the Scandinavian countries, Japan, the U.S. and the Netherlands. The labour factor is most expensive in Germany. At ATS 340 per hour of labour, German manufacturers pay more than a quarter over the...

In an international hierarchy of labour costs, Austria currently ranks 9th and is thus well within the EU average. Labour is most expensive in Norway, where one hour of work is paid 34 percent higher than in Austria, followed by Denmark (+29 percent), Germany (+26 percent) and Switzerland (+24...

The unit labour cost position of Austrian businesses improved clearly in the second half of the 1990s and has remained largely stable since the year 2000. In Austrian manufacturing, one hour of blue-collar labour cost 20.80 € in 2004, hence approximately 2.25 percent less than the average paid...

"Denmark is one of the European countries which has been able to reduce unemployment drastically in recent years; the unemployment figure has fallen by more than 120,000 since its peak of 340,000 in 1994. This success deserves particular attention because the policy followed in Denmark differs...

"Given the recent financial crisis, the German labour market performs relatively well. This has not been the case until recent years: collective bargaining and the rigid system of wage setting have been often cited as one of the reasons for Germany's high structural unemployment. Contrary, a...

"Using German data from the Institute for Employment Research Establishment Panel, this paper constructs two main measures of outsourcing and examines their determinants and consequences for employment. There are some commonalities in the correlates of the two measures of outsourcing, as well as...

"In this contribution employment effects of wage subsidies and a minimum wage are analyzed for Germany. Existing studies for the construction sector and simulations of a statutory minimum wage unanimously point to employment losses of a general minimum wage for Germany. The magnitude of the...

"Denmark is one of the European countries which has been able to reduce unemployment drastically in recent years; the unemployment figure has fallen by more than 120,000 since its peak of 340,000 in 1994. This success deserves particular attention because the policy followed in Denmark differs...