We analyze how value added taxes (VATs) affect labor market outcomes (firms' employee costs, wages, hours worked, employment). While VATs are designed to tax consumption, they are levied at the firm level, which creates potential spillovers to labor markets. We hypothesize that VATs affect wages...

We analyze how value added taxes (VATs) affect labor market outcomes (firms' employee costs, wages, hours worked, employment). While VATs are designed to tax consumption, they are levied at the firm level, which creates potential spillovers to labor markets. We hypothesize that VATs affect wages...

Collective bargaining has a marginal and steadily diminishing role in employment regulation in Hungary. Flaws in the legal framework are certainly among the main reasons behind low and decreasing coverage. In the light of ILO standards and comparative national examples, this article analyses the...

This paper examines the relationship between labour market concentration and wage inequality using global survey data for the period 2006-2022. The results show that higher labour market concentration is associated with higher wage inequality, especially in the top half of the wage distribution....

Das Jahr 2025 war ein ruhiges Tarifjahr. Insgesamt fanden in lediglich zwölf der inzwischen 22 vom IW-Tarifmonitoring erfassten Branchen Tarifverhandlungen statt. Dabei wurden 15 Tarifverhandlungen geführt oder gestartet, allein neun im ersten Halbjahr. Im zweiten Halbjahr 2025 wurde in der...

Das Jahr 2025 war ein ruhiges Tarifjahr. Insgesamt fanden in lediglich zwölf der inzwischen 22 vom IW-Tarifmonitoring erfassten Branchen Tarifverhandlungen statt. Dabei wurden 15 Tarifverhandlungen geführt oder gestartet, allein neun im ersten Halbjahr. Im zweiten Halbjahr 2025 wurde in der...

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...

Am Ende eines langen und turbulenten Arbeitskampfes im August 2023 einigten sich die Verhandlungsführer der EVG (Eisenbahn- und Verkehrsgewerkschaft) mit der Deutschen Bahn AG auf ein Schlichtungsabkommen.1 Nach Angaben der Schlichter entsprach das Ergebnis "dem höchsten und teuersten...

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...

This working paper explores the role of collective bargaining in achieving a just transition, drawing on recent literature and a sample of 512 collective agreements. An in-depth study of six country case studies from various regions highlights key themes in just transition clauses, namely...

This paper investigates whether workers' bargaining power, which extends beyond union membership to collective wage agreements in Germany, affects the level and distribution of wages at the regional level. We conduct fixed-effect regression analysis and a DFL decomposition on SOEP data from 2014...

Migration brings strong economic benefits in the short term and even greater long-term benefits as it contributes to innovation, investment and economic dynamism. The costs of additional migrants are borne by communities that feel pressure on local services, while the benefits are spread more...

Representative establishment data reveal that over 60% of German plants covered by collective agreements pay wages above the level stipulated in the agree- ments, creating a wage cushion between actual and contractual wages. While collective bargaining coverage has fallen over time, the...

This paper investigates how subjective household inflation uncertainty around future prices shapes employed individuals’ expectations of nominal wage growth. Utilizing detailed microdata from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Survey of Consumer Expectations (SCE), we document two key...

Drawing on 12 case studies across 10 countries of how trade unions and collective bargaining institutions supported front-line workers in healthcare, social care and food retail, this article finds that pre-existing or new collective bargaining or social dialogue forums provided important...

This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for temporary agency work (TAW). 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 graphical industry. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted and their capacity to negotiate...

The aim of this representativeness study is to identify the relevant national and supranational social actors (i.e. trade unions and employer organisations) in the tanning and leather sector, and to show the association of national actors with the sector's European interest organisations for...

Representative establishment data reveal that over 60 percent of German plants covered by collective agreements pay wages above the level stipulated in the agreements, creating a wage cushion between actual and contractual wages. While collective bargaining coverage has fallen over time, the...

This working paper explores the role of collective bargaining in achieving a just transition, drawing on recent literature and a sample of 512 collective agreements. An in-depth study of six country case studies from various regions highlights key themes in just transition clauses, namely...

The effects of trade unions on firm performance are theoretically ambiguous. The sizable empirical literature on their effects is almost exclusively confined to developed countries, particularly those in North America and Europe. We contribute to the literature by estimating union effects on...

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,...

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...

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...

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,...

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 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...