The rise to prominence of the service sector - heralded over half a century ago as the great hope for the twenty-first century - has come to fruition. In many cases, employment in the service sector now outnumbers that in manufacturing sectors, and it is accepted that in all developed countries,...

Is more growth in the service sector possible without an expanding manufactoring sector? How great is the need for low-skill, low-paid jobs in the provision of services to households? These and many other questions are addressed in this book

The paper explores the link between different institutional features of minimum wage systems and the minimum wage bite. We notably address the striking absence of studies on sectoral-level minima and exploit unique data covering 17 European countries and information from more than 1100...

In many European countries, the majority of workers have their wages directly defined by industry-level agreements. In addition, for some workers, industry agreements are complemented by firm-specific agreements. This paper provides a critical survey of the effects of this two-tier bargaining...

This paper investigates how the distribution of wages differs between small and large establishments in four European countries. Findings show that within-establishment wage dispersion rises with size because large employers have a more diverse workforce. They also suggest that screening and...

This study analyses the interaction between inter-industry wage differentials and the gender wage gap in six European countries using a unique harmonised matched employer-employee data set, the 1995 European Structure of Earnings Survey. Findings show the existence of significant inter-industry...

En quelque trente ans de politique régionale, l’Union européenne a traversé différentes étapes dans la mise en oeuvre de cette politique tant sur le plan de sa conceptualisation que de ses adaptations aux élargissements successifs. La plus importante de celles-ci est incontestablement la...

This study compares the structure and determinants of inter-industry wage differentials in Eastern and Western European countries on the basis of the 2002 European Structure of Earnings Survey. Findings show substantial differences in earnings across sectors in all countries, even when...

The paper contributes to the debate on the stability/efficiency tradeoff of automatic stabilizers. A simple AD-AS two countries model is presented and illustrates circumstances where a reduction in taxes can foster stabilization. The testable implication from the model is that tax cuts can...