scholarly journals United, Yet Apart? A Note on Persistent Labour Market Differences between Western and Eastern Germany

2016 ◽  
Vol 236 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claus Schnabel
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Labour Supply ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Labour Productivity ◽  
Labour Markets ◽  
Labour Demand ◽  
Works Councils ◽  
Eastern Germany ◽  
Western Germany

AbstractComparing aggregate statistics and surveying selected empirical studies, this paper shows that the characteristics and results of labour markets in eastern and western Germany have become quite similar in some respects but still differ markedly in others even 25 years after unification. Whereas no substantial differences can be detected in firms’ labour demand decisions and in employees’ representation via works councils or trade unions, both parts of the country are somewhat apart concerning labour supply behaviour, labour productivity, wages, and bargaining coverage, and they still exhibit substantially different rates of unemployment. These differences may reflect observable and unobservable characteristics of economic actors as well as differences in behaviour, norms, and individuals’ attitudes.

scholarly journals Institutional Transfer: Industrial Relations in Eastern Germany

1996 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 601-639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Hyman
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Dual System ◽  
Cultural Inheritance ◽  
Works Councils ◽  
Eastern Germany ◽  
Interest Representation ◽  
Formal Identity ◽  
Western Germany ◽  
Close Integration

Can industrial relations be successfully transferred between countries? This paper reviews experience in eastern Germany since unification in 1990. The evidence is that the close integration in western Germany between the two elements of the `dual system' of interest representation - trade unions and works councils - has not been replicated in the east. Hence the formal identity of institutions does not prevent substantial differences in their functioning. This may be explained both in terms of the adverse economic circumstances in the east since unification, and of the distinctive socio-cultural inheritance of the former system.

How does finance influence labour market outcomes? A review of empirical studies

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 1197-1232
Author(s):  
Mark Heil
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Labour Productivity ◽  
National Income ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Managers ◽  
Labour Market Outcomes

PurposeThis paper reviews economic studies on the effects of various aspects of finance on labour market outcomes.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is a systematic literature review that reviews the weight of the evidence on the relationships between specific elements of finance and labour outcomes. The review is divided into three major sections: (1) job quantity and job quality; (2) distributional effects; and (3) resilience and adaptability.FindingsFinance interacts with labour market institutions to jointly determine labour outcomes. Firm financial structures influence their labour practices – highly leveraged firms show greater employment volatility during cyclical fluctuations, and leverage strengthens firm bargaining power in labour negotiations. Bank deregulation has mixed impacts on labour depending upon the state of prior bank regulations and labour markets. Leveraged buyouts tend to dampen acquired-firm job growth as they pursue labour productivity gains. The shareholder value movement may contribute to short-termism among corporate managers, which can divert funds away from firm capital accumulation toward financial markets, and crowd out productive investment. Declining wage shares of national income in most OECD countries since 1990 may be driven in part by financial globalisation. The financial sector contributes to rising income concentration near the top of the distribution in developed countries. The availability of finance is associated with increased reallocation of labour, which may either enhance or impede productivity growth. Finally, rising interest rate environments and homeowners with mortgage balances that exceed their home's value may reduce labour mobility rates.Originality/valueThis review contributes to the understanding of the effects of finance on labour by reviewing and synthesising a large volume of literature.

Cross-border labour markets and the role of trade unions in representing migrant workers’ interests

2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-255
Author(s):  
Adrien Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Labour Markets ◽  
Labour Migration ◽  
Organizational Dynamics ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Survey Results

New patterns of labour migration are reshaping labour markets and raising new challenges for labour market actors, especially trade unions. This article critically discusses unionization strategies targeting migrant workers and the political and organizational dilemmas involved, taking as an example the case of Luxembourg, a founding member of the European Union with a highly internationalized labour market. Relying on qualitative research and survey results, this article sets out the strategies adopted by trade unions to unionize migrant workers, before discussing the dilemmas and tensions related to the diversification of trade union policies and organizational structures in response to labour migration. It provides valuable insights into two broader issues: the socio-political and organizational dynamics involved in trade unions’ inclusion of migrant workers and the potential role of trade unions in building transnational links and cohesion in border regions.

scholarly journals Recent Labour Market Trends in the Visegrad Group Countries

2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Labour Productivity ◽  
Working Time ◽  
Labour Markets ◽  
Real Wages ◽  
Unemployment Rates ◽  
Global Economic Crisis ◽  
Market Trends ◽  
Visegrad Group

This study analyses labour market trends that appeared in Poland and other Visegrad Group countries during the global economic crisis, i.e. between 2007 and 2009. Special attention is paid to the changes in employment and unemployment rates that occurred in that period. For the sake of comparison, the labour market indicators are contrasted with average rates for the European Union and the euro area. The presented analysis aims to identify the degree to which unemployment rates and indicators of employment changed in the selected countries in response to the global crisis and to explain why the labour markets in the sample countries reacted differently. It also addresses the changing production volumes and labour market flexibility, particularly towards wages, employment and working time. The above analyses show that the labour markets of the Visegrad Group countries changed significantly during the global economic crisis, i.e. between 2007 and 2009; unemployment rates rose, while volumes and rates of employment decreased. In Poland, the two indicators changed their values relatively insignificantly, but in Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic the changes were quite distinct. In the crisis years, Polish employment fell and unemployment increased to a relatively small degree. Although the main reason for this was the quite favourable growth trend in the Polish GDP, cuts in real wage and working time reductions also played a role. The relatively marked decline in the Hungarian employment is maliny attributed to the strong downward trend in the country’s GDP, but the decline would have probably been much more extensive, if not for the reductions in working time, real wages and labour productivity. The large declines in the Slovak and Czech employment appeared because the countries' GDPs grew smaller while real wages grew bigger. Shorter working hours and limitations on labour productivity that the two countries introduced could not reverse the unfavourable employment trends that occurred during economic downturn.

scholarly journals Long-Lasting Labour Market Consequences of German Unification

2016 ◽  
Vol 236 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Uwe Blien ◽  
Joachim Möller ◽  
Phan thi Hong Van ◽  
Stephan Brunow
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Transformation Process ◽  
German Unification ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Unemployment Rates ◽  
Eastern Germany ◽  
Western Germany ◽  
Market Consequences

AbstractThis article shows how the impulses of the transformation process in eastern Germany have spread through the economy and the labour market. The form of transformation has long-term effects on the form of control over the economy; it is managed largely from western firms. This fact has manifold consequences for the innovation behaviour of plants, among others, which in turn is further related to productivity and thus to the labour market. We argue that this transfers further to persistently lower wages and higher unemployment rates in eastern compared with western Germany.

scholarly journals Shift-share analysis of employment growth – the case of V4 countries

2008 ◽  
Vol 54 (No. 8) ◽  
pp. 347-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Bielik ◽  
M. Rajčániová
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Employment Growth ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Labour Productivity ◽  
Residual Effect ◽  
Labour Markets ◽  
Competitive Effect ◽  
Economic Problems ◽  
Visegrad Group

The performance of labour market together with its consequences (changes in employment, wages and labour productivity) is regarded as one of the major economic problems of our times. Well functioning labour market is an important precondition for economic growth and competitiveness of the country (Musil 2007; Blanchard 2006). The aim of this paper is to examine the changes in employment with the help of the shift-share analysis. Shift-share analysis enables the decomposition of employment growth into sectoral-mix effect, competitive effect and residual effect. First part of the paper will present the literature background on the development of labour markets of the V4 countries. Later on, we try to identify the driving forces of employment growth in the Visegrad group countries during the period 1994–2006. In addition, the last part of the paper will summarise the results obtained in our analysis.

scholarly journals Mercado de trabajo, género y especialización oleícola: Mallorca a mediados del siglo XVII

2019 ◽  
pp. 37-69
Author(s):  
Gabriel Jover-Avellà ◽  
Joana Maria Pujades-Mora
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Gender Wage Gap ◽  
Wage Gap ◽  
Labour Markets ◽  
Labour Demand ◽  
Life Conditions ◽  
Participation Of Women ◽  
Female Occupation

Recently, an intense historiographical debate has developed concerning female participation in rural labour markets and its impact on the gender wage gap before 1800. The underlying hypothesis is that increased participation of women in the labour market should lead to a reduction in the wage gap and a parallel improvement in their life conditions. However, research results to date are inconclusive. This article aims to address some of these issues, using the island of Mallorca during the seventeenth century as a case study. Female par ticipation in the labour market was more intense there than in other Mediterranean and Atlantic regions. In addition, the seasonality of labour demand on the island provoked more instances of collusion than complementarity with regard to agrarian tasks, in contrast with what happened in Atlantic regions. Finally, we also explain why higher rates of female occupation did not necessarily imply a significant reduction of the gender wage gap.

scholarly journals Labour Market Institutions and Amplification of Employment Fluctuations

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (53) ◽  
pp. 164-173
Author(s):  
Toyoki Matsue
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Adjustment Costs ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Oscillatory Behaviour ◽  
Numerical Examples ◽  
Labour Market Reforms ◽  
Employment Fluctuations ◽  
Key Features

AbstractLabour market reforms have been undertaken to eliminate labour market rigidities in European countries since 1970s. The important features of the reforms are the reduction in adjustment costs and the introduction of fixed-term contracts (FTC). Some empirical studies point out that employment fluctuations have become more volatile after the reforms. This paper presents a model with FTC and analyzes the effects of the key features of the reforms. Numerical examples show that an expected productivity shock causes the oscillatory behaviour of employment. Moreover, a reduction in adjustment costs amplifies fluctuations. In the labour market literature, a number of studies point out the importance of trade unions in European countries. This paper also analyzes the effects of union influence, and the numerical examples indicate that the stronger union influence leads to larger employment fluctuations.

scholarly journals Modern Labour Economics: The Neoclassical Paradigm with Institutional Theories

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (28) ◽  
pp. 541
Author(s):  
Dagmar Brozova
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Labour Markets ◽  
Invisible Hand ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Wage Rates ◽  
Regulatory Interventions ◽  
Individual Decisions ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Market Economics

The growing role of institutions and their influence on the labour market outcomes, i.e. wage rates and labour allocation, has been among the most significant characteristic features of labour markets in recent decades. Labour market economics built its paradigm on the principles of marginalism, which brought suitable instruments for analysis of market agents´ individual decisions capable of achieving effective solutions. Smith´s “invisible hand” has gradually been limited by institutional interventions – by governments, corporations and trade unions with government legislation, corporate personnel policies and collective bargaining. The expanding regulatory interventions into the labour market and the effort to explain the reality leads inevitably to the fact that modern labour market economics incorporates more and more institutional theories. The contribution outlines the gradual invasion of neoinstitutional topics and theories into the neoclassical labour market paradigm and it analyses the differences in the neoclassical and neoinstitutional interpretation of labour markets’ functioning. The recent discussion on the consequences for labour market economics theory is presented. A conclusion about the gradual direction towards a changed paradigm of labour market economics is presented.

scholarly journals Transnational Cigar-Makers: Cross-Border Labour Markets, Strikes, and Solidarity at the Time of the First International (1864–1873)

2014 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ad Knotter
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Labour Markets ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
International Solidarity ◽  
Cigar Makers ◽  
Migratory Movements

AbstractSeveral authors have argued that one of the main goals of the International Working Men's Association was to control transnational labour markets. In the eyes of trade unionists, especially in Britain, uncontrolled cross-border migratory movements threatened to undermine wage standards and working conditions. Their solution was to organize internationally, both to prevent strike-breaking and wage-cutting by workers from abroad, and to support unions elsewhere to raise wage standards in their home countries. Cigar-makers operated on a cross-border labour market and were very prominent in the First International. In this article I describe the connections between the German, British, Dutch, Belgian, and American cigar-makers as migratory workers, and their actions to stimulate, support, and coordinate trade unions internationally. I argue that the international cooperation of cigar-makers was primarily motivated by a wish to regulate their cross-border labour market, not so much by an abstract ideal of international solidarity.

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