The area-wide wage agreement is at the centre of Germany s system of collective bargaining. In recent years, however, there has been a tendency towards the decentralisation of collective bargaining. Individual wage agreements have led to more moderate wage developments, whilst wage agreements...

Some English speaking countries provide employment-conditional tax credits and benefits with a view to increasing employment and improving family income in the low wage brackets. This article deals with Great Britain's Working Families' Tax Credit, Ireland's Back to Work Allowance and her Family...