The paper analyzes the evolution of relative wages using individual wage data, and the contribution of skills to productivity using firm-level information from Hungary, 1986-99. Its main conclusion is that skills obsolescence was, and still is, an important aspect of post-communist transition....

The paper analyses the evolution of relative wages using individual wage data, and the contribution of skills to productivity using firmlevel information from Hungary, 1986-99. Its main conclusion is that skills obsolescence was, and still is, an important aspect of postcommunist transition. The...

The paper looks at how the distribution of jobs by complexity and firms' willingness to hire low educated labor for jobs of different complexity contribute to unskilled employment in Norway, Italy and Hungary. In search of how unqualified workers can attend complex jobs, it compares their...

The paper looks at how the distribution of jobs by complexity and firms' willingness to hire low educated labor for jobs of different complexity contribute to unskilled employment in Norway,Italy and Hungary. In search of how unqualified workers can attend complex jobs, it compares their...

Primary degree holders have extraordinarily low employment rates in Central and East European (CEE) countries, a bias that largely contributes to their low levels of aggregate employment. The paper looks at the possible role for skills mismatch in explaining this failure. The analysis is based...

Millions of East-Europeans started businesses during the transformational recession but, according to a wide-spread interpretation, many of them did so only temporarily and 'unwillingly' under the threat of unemployment. The paper looks at the relevance of the 'disguised unemployment approach to...