Works Councils, Wages, and Job Satisfaction

We investigate the effects of works councils on employees’ wages and job satisfaction ingeneral and for subgroups with respect to sex and occupational status. Making use of aGerman representative sample of employees, we find that employees, who move to a firmwith a works council, report increases in job satisfaction, but do not receive particular wageincreases. Especially the job satisfaction of female employees is affected by a change inworks council status. However, we do not find support for the hypothesis that the introductionof a works council itself increases wages or job satisfaction for the employees staying at thefirm.[...]