Swedish minimum wages are not regulated by law, but subject to bargaining between employers and trade unions and form part of collective agreements. This paper provides an overview of the Swedish minimum wage system, its characteristics and effects on employment and wages, and also discusses the...

Swedish minimum wages are not regulated by law, but subject to bargaining between employers and trade unions and form part of collective agreements. This paper provides an overview of the Swedish minimum wage system, its characteristics and effects on employment and wages, and also discusses the...

Measuring the effects minimum wages have on wage inequality and employment is complex, and troubled by endogeneity issues. We use a large longitudinal dataset and sectoral minimum wage variation to analyse trends in minimum wages and wage inequality in Belgium. Building on the model of Lee...

Till the early-1990s the collectively-bargained labor contract (between the trade-union that presented the employees, and the employer or the employers'-association) was the norm, granting salaried workers a stable and protected labor contract. Thereafter, and more significantly after 1995, the...

Till the early-1990s the collectively-bargained labor contract (between the trade-union that presented the employees, and the employer or the employers'-association) was the norm, granting salaried workers a stable and protected labor contract. Thereafter, and more significantly after 1995, the...

Central banks need to be concerned about wages since they are a major driver of inflation. Rising wages are needed to signal directions for market adjustments to ensure growth. Wage growth is driven by relative scarcity, labor productivity and expectations about inflation and future growth....

In several OECD countries employer federations and unions fix skill-specific wage floors for all workers in an industry. One view of those "explicit" contracts argues that the prevailing wage structure reflects the labor market conditions back at the time when those contracts were bargained,...

This paper provides a comprehensive portrait of the level and compliance to sectoral minimum wages in Italy between 2008 and 2015. The results show that minimum wages in Italy are relatively high both in absolute terms and relative to the median wage. However, non-compliance rates are not...

This paper provides a comprehensive portrait of the level and compliance with sectoral minimum wages in Italy between 2008 and 2015. The results show that wage floors in Italy are relatively high both in absolute terms and relative to the median wage. However, non-compliance rates are not...

Several countries extend collective bargaining agreements to entire sectors, therefore binding non-subscriber workers and employers. These extensions may address coordination issues but may also distort competition by imposing sector-specific minimum wages and other work conditions that are not...