We use novel surveys of firms and workers, linked to administrative employer-employee data, to study the prevalence and importance of individual bargaining in wage determination. We show that simple survey questions accurately elicit firms' bargaining strategies. Using the elicited strategies...

We test whether firms react to changes in the wages and size of their competitors. We use a unique institutional feature of public procurement auctions in Brazil: the moment in which the auction ends is random. For close auctions, winner and runner-up are as good as randomly assigned. We first...

Sie finden meist ohne große öffentliche Aufmerksamkeit statt und betreffen nur eine kleine Beschäftigtengruppe: die Tarifverhandlungen für Redakteur:innen an Tageszeitungen. Das heißt aber nicht, dass sie schnell, unkompliziert und konfliktfrei über die Bühne gehen. Im Gegenteil: In den...

Public service reforms often provoke political backlash. Can they also yield political benefits for the politicians who champion them? We study a Wisconsin law that weakened teachers' unions and liberalized pay, prompting mass protests. Exploiting its staggered implementation across school...

We use the removal of public bank guarantees in Germany as a quasi-natural experiment to estimate the gender bargaining power gap. Using comprehensive wage data from the universe of banking employees, combined with bank-level financial information, we find that women have approximately...

Public service reforms often provoke political backlash. Can they also yield political benefits for the politicians who champion them? We study a Wisconsin law that weakened teachers' unions and liberalized pay, prompting mass protests. Exploiting its staggered implementation across school...

This paper proposes novel natural language methods to measure worker rights from collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) for use in empirical economic analysis. Applying unsupervised text-as-data algorithms to a new collection of 30,000 CBAs from Canada in the period 1986-2015, we parse legal...

This paper evaluates the evolution of the Dutch minimum wage since its introduction in 1969 and discusses this as an intriguing case suggesting that a deeper, economic analysis of firm and employee behaviours is required for minimum-wage analysis in general. The real level of the minimum wage...

This paper takes a historical perspective and assesses the evolution of the institutional features in setting the minimum wage in Greece between 1975 and 2023. It also evaluates developments regarding the minimum wage level, its bite and alignment with productivity. The paper reviews the limited...

We use novel surveys of firms and workers, linked to administrative employer-employee data, to study the prevalence and importance of individual bargaining in wage determination. We show that simple survey questions accurately elicit firms' bargaining strategies. Using the elicited strategies...

Trade unions and employers' associations play an important role in Germany not only in wage setting, but also in social policy and labour market regulation. While the majority of companies are organised in employers' associations, less than one fifth of employees are still members of a trade...

The various form of pattern bargaining with manufacturing, as representative of the tradables sector, deciding the norm for wage increases in the Nordic countries are reviewed. This form of bargaining has been consistent with strong international competitiveness and has widespread support among...

This article reviews quantitative research on unions and collective bargaining in Sub-Saharan Africa. It discusses the consequences of unions for wages, inequality, economic performance and employer-employee relations. The article also highlights the role of unions in society, a role that goes...

Trade unions and employers' associations play an important role in Germany not only in wage setting, but also in social policy and labour market regulation. While the majority of companies are organised in employers' associations, less than one fifth of employees are still members of a trade...

Im Jahr 2024 fanden insgesamt in 19 der zwanzig vom IW-Tarifmonitoring erfassten Branchen Tarifverhandlungen statt. Insgesamt gab es 32 Tarifauseinandersetzungen, die zum Teil schon 2022 und 2023 begannen. Eine Messung des Konfliktklimas zeigt, dass diese Auseinandersetzungen auch im Jahr 2024...

Considering that the transition to a low-carbon economy will not be secured by mutual agreement but requires coordinated industrial organizing, this article builds upon eco-socialist critiques to identify the concrete dimensions of the underlying solidarity between workers and the rest of nature...

This article examines the role of local industrial relations, specifically workplace unions and collective bargaining, in improving the working conditions of apparel factories exporting to multinational brands and retailers. Drawing on a unique data set collected in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Haiti,...

The decentralization of wage-setting - from multi-employer bargaining to firm-level agreements - allows firms to adjust their internal wage structure but has uncertain effects on inequality. This article estimates the difference in within-firm wage inequality between centralized and firm-level...

This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the professional postal and courier activities sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted,...

This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the road transport sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective...

This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the chemical sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective...

Increases in national minimum wages can have various knock-on effects - they can, for instance, lead to wage rises more generally and can influence the social partners' latitude in collective bargaining. This report examines how changes to national minimum wages affect collectively agreed and...

We develop a model where heterogeneous agents choose whether to engage in onthe-job search (OJS) to improve labor income. The model accounts for untargeted microdata patterns: fiscal incentives affect job-to-job mobility and wage growth of stayers-but not leavers-across the income distribution,...

Using administrative data from Germany, this study provides first evidence on the wage effects of collective bargaining compliance laws. These laws require establishments receiving public contracts to pay wages set by a representative collective agreement, even if they are not formally bound by...

We investigate how firms adjust to demand shocks when wages and employment determination are regulated. Using firm-level data for the Italian metal engineering industry from 2009 to 2021, we estimate the elasticity of the wage bill to changes in firm's real sales. We disentangle the effect on...

This article reviews quantitative research on unions and collective bargaining in Sub-Saharan Africa. It discusses the consequences of unions for wages, inequality, economic performance and employer-employee relations. The article also highlights the role of unions in society, a role that goes...

This article reviews quantitative research on unions and collective bargaining in Sub-Saharan Africa. It discusses the consequences of unions for wages, inequality, economic performance and employer-employee relations. The article also highlights the role of unions in society, a role that goes...

This study documents the evolution of minimum wages bargained in Italian private sector collective contracts over a forty-year period (1983-2023). Minimum wages have grown in real levels over the last three decades, particularly among high-skilled occupations, but this growth has been partially...

Im ersten Halbjahr 2025 fanden in lediglich neun der inzwischen 22 vom IW-Tarifmonitoring erfassten Branchen Tarifverhandlungen statt, wovon die meisten bereits 2024 begannen. Es kam zu vergleichsweise wenigen Auseinandersetzungen, die aber konfliktreich verliefen. Neben immer noch recht hohen...

This study provides the first comprehensive investigation of the relationship between trade union membership and non-performance-oriented bonuses. We expect a positive impact of union membership because members benefit from special entitlements, increased bargaining power and informational...

Die Wirkungen sozialpartnerschaftlicher Strukturen werden in der Arbeit aus verschiedenen Perspektiven untersucht. Der Ländervergleich zeigt, dass Länder mit koordinierten Lohnverhandlungssystemen ein hohes Beschäftigungsniveau und eine geringere Lohnungleichheit aufweisen. In Bezug auf...

This working paper was prepared in 2024 and reviews developments internationally since 2021 relating to the exercise of the right to bargain collectively and the existence of collective agreements among workers in the platform economy. The paper builds upon ILO Working Paper 80, "Realizing the...

Die Gewerkschaften ließen sich zunächst auf die Forderung der Politik ein, Lohnzurückhaltung zu üben. Da die Krise aber schneller als erwartet überwunden werden konnte, stagnierten die Reallöhne, während die Unternehmensgewinne explodierten. Zusätzlich gerieten die Gewerkschaften dadurch...

Im Herbst 2022 wurde die Richtlinie (2022/2041) über angemessene Mindestlöhne in der Europäischen Union verabschiedet. Diese hat zwei zentrale Ziele. Mitgliedsländer mit einem gesetzlichen Mindestlohn müssen transparente Kriterien und Verfahren zu dessen Festlegung entwickeln. Wenn die...