Bazen
Publications
The impact of international trade on labour markets in developed countries will be different according to the degree of competition in product markets, the flexibility of the labour market and the skill intensity of production. An econometric analysis of the impact of trade in France has been undertaken using sectoral data for the period 1985-p1992. It is found that lower relative import prices reduce the relative employment of low skill workers in the first half the period and reduce their relative wages in the second half. In both cases the effect is more pronounced in sectors where the skill intensity of production is initially low.
Low-skilled workers face a future of joblessness or low-wage, insecure employment as technological change and globalization impact on the advanced economies. 'The European social model' of collective bargaining, minimum wages, employment rights, and social welfare support is alternately cited as both cause and cure. The contributions to this book review the evidence and find that, while the European model cannot remedy adverse global trends affecting low-skilled workers, it does achieve significant success in moderating them. Collective bargaining and wage regulation reduce the incidence of low pay. Minimum wages at prevailing levels provide significant wage protection for more vulnerable workers, without substantial job losses. The significant 'jobs deficit' of Germany relative to the USA in low-wage services is not the outcome of excessively high German wages. Conversely, reliance on wage flexibility to create jobs for the low-skilled does not emerge as economically effective, and can no longer be regarded as the simple panacea.
In all continental European countries there exist non-market mechanisms that determine or "regulate" wage rates for the low-paid. We consider the experience of three countries that have national minimum wages France, Belgium, and the Netherlands--and three where low wage rates are determined through widespread collective bargaining--Germany, Italy, and Denmark. We find that overall there is less inequality (both wage and income) and less poverty than in the United Kingdom and the United States, where low wages are less regulated. Furthermore, patterns of labour-market adjustment--employment, unemployment, and gross job flows--vary greatly, suggesting that there is no one-to-one mapping between the presence of mechanisms to regulate low wages and labour-market performance. Furthermore, wage shares have been falling since the early 1980s. It is therefore difficult to attribute high and persistent rates of unemployment found in certain countries to the existence of mechanisms to "regulate" low wages. Copyright 2000 by Oxford University Press.
Do low wages help to reduce unemployment and increase competitiveness in world markets? Is minimum wage legislation and collective bargaining harmful to the efficient working of any economy? In answer to these questions, this book examines the impact of low-wage employment on different countries in Europe.
The overall objective of this study is to try and uncover to what extent the borrowing and lending pattern of Chinese urban credit cooperatives (UCCs) leads them to conform to the theoretical view of credit cooperatives and to what degree they are mainly characterized by elements which result from their regulatory environment and the status of China as an economy in transition. We provide evidence from a specially-commissioned survey on the characteristics and functioning of UCCs. Our statistical and econometric analysis points to the tentative conclusion that there are major regional differences in the performance of UCCs both in terms of the quality of loans granted and overall profitability. The latter is also influenced by the quality of the loans made, and this in turn is affected by the number of directors in the UCC and the extent to which the UCC grants loans to state-owned enterprises.
No abstract is available for this item.
No abstract is available for this item.
The prospect of direct intervention in the process of wage determination as envisaged in the Social Charter has met with considerable criticism. In particular, employers' organizations and certain governments have rejected outright the proposal to require firms to pay an equitable wage. However, in all member-states except the UK and Ireland, arrangements exist to ensure that nearly all workers are covered by minimum wage protection (through national minimum wages or full-coverage collective agreements). In this article the nature of low-paid employment in member-states is examined and different methods of wage regulation are described. After reviewing the economic effects of wage regulation, we discuss possible initiatives on wage regulation at the Community level.
No abstract is available for this item.