According to empirical studies, a statistically significant factor for German exports success is high cost (or price) competitiveness. Studies by Deutsche Bundesbank recommend correcting the nominal effective exchange rate by broad cost (or price) indicators (Deutsche Bundesbank, 1998, 2016a)....

The objective of the article is to evaluate the impact of personnel costs on apparent labour productivity by employing the 1995-2018 panel data of the manufacturing industry in 27 European countries. The methods of independent samples t-test, correlation analysis, Granger causality test, unit...

In some countries around the world, the advantages of globalisation have been increasingly called into question recently. In particular, takeovers by foreign firms raise suspicions of technology theft and job cuts at the newly acquired local plant. By looking at Germany, as a large open economy,...

This paper estimates the effect of payroll tax cuts on firm-level employment and balance-sheet outcomes during economic downturns. We use two regional payroll tax cuts in Finland as well as the onset of the Great Recession to estimate the effect of the recession on firms treated by the payroll...

In 2016, the Irish minimum wage increased from €8.65 to €9.15 per hour. A new ESRI study, funded by the Low Pay Commission, found that the 2016 minimum wage increase led to higher labour costs among firms with more than half of their employees on the minimum wage. However, these types of...

This paper examines the effectiveness of labor cost reductions as a means to stimulate economic activity and assesses the differences which may occur with the prevailing exchange rate regime. We develop a medium-scale three-region DSGE model and show that the impact of a cut in employers' social...

Despite unambiguous predictions of the canonical model of a competitive labor market, empirical studies on the labor market effects of payroll taxation provide conflicting evidence. Our meta-analysis shows that varying degrees of labor market competitiveness across places and time could be one...

We provide novel systematic cross-country evidence that the link between domestic labour markets and CPI inflation has weakened considerably in advanced economies during recent decades. The central estimate is that the short-run pass-through from domestic labour cost changes to core CPI...

Das Jahr 2020 stand in Europa im Zeichen der Coronakrise. Die Wirtschaftsleistung brach europaweit in einem noch nie dagewesen Ausmaß ein. Durch an die Krisensituation angepasste und neue Beschäftigungssicherungsprogramme konnte jedoch in den Ländern der Europäischen Union im großen Umfang...

The link between US labor cost and price inflation has weakened notably over the past three decades. In this paper we document this decline and analyse potential contributing factors. We consider four important trends that have shaped the US economy of late: (i) improved anchoring of inflation...

The recent development in the Slovak economy erased a significant competitive advantage of manufacturing - low labour cost. The paper analyses the driving factors of rising unit labour costs in the manufacturing sector. The paper aims to explain why the unexpectedly rapid loss of traditional...

This paper builds a short-term inflation projections (STIP) model for Latvia. The model is designed to forecast highly disaggregated consumer prices using cointegrated ARDL approach of [Pesaran, M., & Shin, Y. (1998). An Autoregressive Distributed Lag Modelling Approach to Cointegration...

In some countries around the world, the advantages of globalisation have been increasingly called into question recently. In particular, takeovers by foreign firms raise suspicions of technology theft and job cuts at the newly acquired local plant. By looking at Germany, as a large open economy,...

How do firm-level collective agreements affect firm performance in a multi-level bargaining system? Using detailed Belgian linked employer-employee panel data, our findings show that firm agreements increase both wage costs and productivity (with respect to sector-level agreements). Relying on a...

Die Arbeitskosten je geleistete Arbeitsstunde sind ein wichtiger Indikator zur Beurteilung der internationalen Wettbewerbsfähigkeit von Volkswirtschaften. Sie können durch wirtschaftspolitische und betriebswirtschaftliche Maßnahmen auch kurzfristig beeinflusst werden, um die...

Labor adjustment costs (LACs) are a broad concept and involve costs incurred to search, hire, train, retain, and fire employees. LACs represent a substantial financial burden for firms, and increase with their reliance on skilled labor for production and operation. In this study, I examine...

Nach einem Jahrzehnt der sehr schwachen Lohnentwicklung in den 2000er Jahren, waren die 2010er Jahre ein Jahrzehnt in dem sich die Arbeits- und Lohnstückkostenentwicklung in Deutschland normalisiert hat. Die dynamischere Lohnentwicklung und das annähernde Ausschöpfen des...

The US-centred debate on the decoupling of productivity from workers' compensation has given rise to the question whether this decoupling has also taken place in other countries, and if so, to what degree. However, in-depth analyses of the extent and the underlying causes of wage-productivity...

In many countries, labor courts play a central role in the determination of firing costs by monitoring and supervising the procedures for dismissals, and, eventually, deciding severance payments mandated by the employment protection legislation (EPL). To get some insights about the impact of...

Several studies have highlighted that African manufacturing wages are higher than comparator countries at similar levels of development, which contributes to the continent’s lower levels of manufacturing competitiveness. This paper derives unit labor costs - average wages relative to...

Wages directly affect the wellbeing and living conditions of the working population, household consumption and domestic demand, but also a country's competitiveness. However, methodological differences across multiple data sources mean that it is a complex matter to make an accurate assessment...

Over the 1967-2015 period, net wage inequality has decreased in France by 25%, in contrast to the significant increase experienced by most developed countries. Less well known is the fact that labor cost inequality has actually increased by 8% over the same period. We show that, (a) standard...

Die Arbeitskosten je geleistete Arbeitsstunde sind ein wichtiger Indikator zur Beurteilung der internationalen Wettbewerbsfähigkeit von Volkswirtschaften. Sie können durch wirtschaftspolitische und betriebswirtschaftliche Maßnahmen auch kurzfristig beeinflusst werden, um die...

I study the effect of increasing competition on financial performance through labour leverage. To capture competition, I exploit variation in product market contestability in the U.S. airline industry. First, I find that increasing competitive pressure leads to increasing labour leverage,...

The importance of skilled labor and the inalienability of human capital expose firms to the risk of losing talent in critical times. Using Swedish micro-data, we document that firms lose workers with the highest cognitive and noncognitive skills as they approach bankruptcy. In a...

I study the effect of increasing competition on financial performance through labor leverage. To capture competition, I exploit variation in product market contestability in the U.S. airline industry. First, I find that increasing competitive pressure leads to increasesing labor leverage,...

I study the impact of M&As on labor market outcomes of employees in target firms. Using a matched employer-employee dataset linked with hand-collected data on M&A activity in Brazil, I estimate the magnitudes of employee costs and document the underlying sources of earnings changes in the...

The recovery of private investment in Italy has lagged its euro area peers over the past decade. This paper examines the role of elevated labor costs in hindering the recovery. Specifically, labor costs rose faster than labor productivity prior to the global financial crisis and have remained...

This paper explores, both theoretically and empirically, how firing costs affect worker productivity and turnover. We develop a model in which workers are essential to knowledge transfer between firms and worker effort is firm-specific in the sense that a worker can be fired before reaping the...

This paper is one of the first to estimate how the region in which an establishment is located affects its productivity, wage cost and cost competitiveness (i.e. its productivity-wage gap). To do so, we use detailed linked employer-employee panel data for Belgium and rely on methodological...

This paper is one of the first to estimate how the region in which an establishment is located affects its productivity, wage cost and cost competitiveness (i.e. its productivity-wage gap). To do so, we use detailed linked employer-employee panel data for Belgium and rely on methodological...