We estimate the effects of the reform of German Unemployment Insurance that replaced the wage-related Unemployment Assistance with an income maintenance Programme and stronger means testing. We model the tax-benefit system and use the Socio-Economic Panel. We estimate a discrete labour supply...

The problem of trying to estimate what the effect of the minimum wage will have on employment (or any other outcome) has puzzled economists for over 150 years. Some factions in Germany have recently contemplated supplementing their extensive system of sector and branch minimum wages with a...

This paper analyzes the impact of demographic change on the labor force in Germany. First, to account for observable trends in labor force participation a cohort-component model is applied to project the future development of the labor force. Based on this trend scenario we assess the impact of...

'Marginal employment', i. e. employment with low working hours and earnings not covered by social security, has been gaining importance in the German economy over the past decade. Using a large newly available panel data set from the Employment Statistics of the Federal Employment Agency and...

Flexibility and heterogeneity are important topics in labour market research. Since 2004 the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) has funded a research network addressing the issue of 'Flexibility in Heterogeneous Labour Markets', which intends to uncover possibilities for fostering...

This paper describes the practical implementation of hiring vouchers in Germany. According to our proposal, employers receive vouchers for hiring long-term unemployed, low-ability workers. Thereby labor costs are reduced for a limited period of time. The size of the vouchers increases with the...

Facing the recent German debate on the minimum wage, this paper analyses theoretical effects of minimum wages on employment and wage distribution under a frictional setting. I??review new developments in search theory and discuss the influence of the minimum wage on wages and employment under...

Organizational change is characterized by different measures of business policy, work organization and personnel policy, e.g. delayering, teamwork, job-rotation, further training and education, incentive payment and flexible working time. These measures work both, alone and in combination, on...

Since the effects of a minimum wage on wages and employment are depending on a bunch of factors and are by no means determined theoretically in an unambiguous way, empirical analysis is required. German studies on the effects of minimum wages in the past often did not meet international...

The Minimum wage in the roofing sector, which was introduced in 1997 and transferred to a national and generally binding level in 2003, has particularly affected the sector in Eastern Germany, even in an international comparison. However, the concomitant effective cost burden is limited. Based...