In order to reduce unemployment, it is often recommended that industry-level wage bargaining in Germany should be replaced by a more decentralized system. This paper provides a critical assessment of the current wage bargaining institutions and reexamines the case for a more decentralized...

At the turn of the millennium three frequently cited potential causes of new challenges for wage policy in Germany are revisited in this study: skill-biased technological progress, the increasing international integration of labor and product markets, and the monetary integration of the EMU....