Minimum Wage Regimes

This book goes beyond traditional minimum wage research to investigate the interplay between different country and sectoral institutional settings and actors’ strategies in the field of minimum wage policies. It asks which strategies and motives, namely free collective bargaining, fair pay and/or minimum income protection, are emphasised by social actors with respect to the regulation and adaptation of (statutory) minimum wages. Taking an actor-centered institutionalist approach, and employing cross-country comparative studies, sector studies and single country accounts of change, the book relates institutional and labour market settings, actors’ strategies and power resources with policy and practice outcomes. Looking at the key pay equity indicators of low wage development and women’s over-representation among the low paid, it illuminates our understandings about the importance of historical junctures, specific constellations of social actors, and sector- and country-specific actor strategies. Finally, it underlines the important role of social dialogue in shaping an effective minimum wage policy. This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and policy-makers and practitioners in industrial relations, international human resource management, labour studies, labour market policy, inequality studies, trade union studies, European politics and political economy.

Document from the year 2011 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: European Union, University of Münster, language: English, abstract: 1. Definition of a "minimum wage" 2. How many countries do have a minimum wage regime across Europe? 3. How high are minimum wages across Europe? 4. Is there a trend towards the minimum wage across Europe? 5. The importance of minimum wages across Europe/ To how many people does a minimum wage apply across Europe? 6. Is the eastern European expansion of the EU a reason for the introduction of minimum wages across Europe? 7. Is a minimum wage regime favourable in economic and social terms? 8. Is there a legal right to gain a sufficient remuneration - a minimum wage? 9. How could a European perspective of a minimum wage regime look like? 10.Are there alternatives to a minimum wage? Further reading

Around the world, minimum wage controls have excluded low cost competitors from labour markets, hampered firms in reducing wage costs during trade downturns, and caused various industrial-economic inefficiencies as well as unemployment, poverty, and price rises. This study analyses national minimum wage fixing as a special form of political-economic protectionism ¿ the equivalent of tariff barriers to low cost imports. It sees it as violating Treaty of Rome and other basic guarantees of free trade and markets in labour services in Europe. The study contains a detailed critique of the recently established British national minimum wage fixing regime. CONTENTS: 1. MINIMUM WAGE CONTROLS & THEIR EFFECTS: AN OVERVIEW 2. MINIMUM WAGE CONTROL & DE-CONTROL IN PARTICULAR COUNTRIES 3. LEGAL ASPECTS OF MINIMUM WAGE CONTROL 4. MINIMUM WAGE CONTROL & UNEMPLOYMENT 5. THE EFFECTS OF MINIMUM WAGE CONTROLS ON EMPLOYERS & THE DEMAND FOR LABOUR 6. THE EFFECTS OF MINIMUM WAGE CONTROLS ON EMPLOYEES & THE SUPPLY OF LABOUR 7. THE EFFECTS OF MINIMUM WAGE CONTROLS ON INCOMES & WELFARE

This book goes beyond traditional minimum wage research to investigate the interplay between different country and sectoral institutional settings and actors’ strategies in the field of minimum wage policies. It asks which strategies and motives, namely free collective bargaining, fair pay and/or minimum income protection, are emphasised by social actors with respect to the regulation and adaptation of (statutory) minimum wages. Taking an actor-centered institutionalist approach, and employing cross-country comparative studies, sector studies and single country accounts of change, the book relates institutional and labour market settings, actors’ strategies and power resources with policy and practice outcomes. Looking at the key pay equity indicators of low wage development and women’s over-representation among the low paid, it illuminates our understandings about the importance of historical junctures, specific constellations of social actors, and sector- and country-specific actor strategies. Finally, it underlines the important role of social dialogue in shaping an effective minimum wage policy. This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and policy-makers and practitioners in industrial relations, international human resource management, labour studies, labour market policy, inequality studies, trade union studies, European politics and political economy.

We investigate differences in quit, layoff and hiring rates in high versus low minimum wage regimes using Canadian data spanning 1979 to 2008. The data include consistent questions on job tenure and reason for job separation for the whole period. Over the same time frame, there were over 140 minimum wage changes in Canada. We find that higher minimum wages are associated with lower hiring rates but also with lower job separation rates. Importantly, the reduced separation rates are due mainly to reductions in layoffs, occur in the first 6 months of a job, and are present for unskilled workers of all ages. Our estimates imply that a 10% increase in the minimum wage generates a 3.9% reduction in the layoff rate. We present a search and matching model that fits with these patterns and test its implications. Overall, our results imply that jobs in higher minimum wage regimes are more stable but harder to get.

Document from the year 2011 in the subject Politics - Topic: European Union, University of Münster, language: English, abstract: 1. Definition of a “minimum wage” 2. How many countries do have a minimum wage regime across Europe? 3. How high are minimum wages across Europe? 4. Is there a trend towards the minimum wage across Europe? 5. The importance of minimum wages across Europe/ To how many people does a minimum wage apply across Europe? 6. Is the eastern European expansion of the EU a reason for the introduction of minimum wages across Europe? 7. Is a minimum wage regime favourable in economic and social terms? 8. Is there a legal right to gain a sufficient remuneration – a minimum wage? 9. How could a European perspective of a minimum wage regime look like? 10.Are there alternatives to a minimum wage? Further reading

Around the world, minimum wage controls have excluded low cost competitors from labour markets, hampered firms in reducing wage costs during trade downturns, and caused various industrial economic inefficiencies as well as unemployment, poverty, and price rises. This study analyses national minimum wage fixing as a special form of political economic protectionism the equivalent of tariff barriers to low cost imports. It sees it as violating Treaty of Rome and other basic guarantees of free trade and markets in labour services in Europe. The widely used study contains a detailed critique of the recently established British national minimum wage fixing regime. Contents: 1. Minimum Wage Controls and their Effects: an Overview 2. Minimum Wage Control and De Control in Particular Countries 3. Legal Aspects of Minimum Wage Control 4. Minimum Wage Control and Unemployment 5. The Effects of Minimum Wage Controls on Employers and the Demand for Labour 6. The Effects of Minimum Wage Controls on Employees and the Supply of Labour 7. The Effects of Minimum Wage Controls on Incomes and Welfare