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Understanding wage restraint in the German public sector: does the pattern bargaining hypothesis really hold water?

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  • Donato Di Carlo

Abstract

German public sector wage restraint has been explained through the presence of a specific type of inter‐sectoral wage coordination in the industrial relations system—that is, export sector‐led pattern bargaining. First, as a literature‐assessing exercise, this paper reviews the literature in industrial relations and comparative political economy (CPE) and finds that (i) the origins and mechanics of inter‐sectoral wage coordination through pattern bargaining have never been laid out clearly; (ii) that the mechanisms of the pattern bargaining thesis have never been tested empirically; and (iii) that the CPE literature reveals an export‐sector bias. Second, as a theory‐testing exercise, hoop tests are performed to verify the pattern bargaining hypothesis. The key finding is that Germany cannot be considered a case of export sector‐driven pattern bargaining, opening a new research agenda for the study of public sector wage setting centred on public sector employment relations, public finance, public administrations and the politics of fiscal policy.

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  • Donato Di Carlo, 2020. "Understanding wage restraint in the German public sector: does the pattern bargaining hypothesis really hold water?," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(3), pages 185-208, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:indrel:v:51:y:2020:i:3:p:185-208
    DOI: 10.1111/irj.12288
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    1. Donato Di Carlo & Christian Lyhne Ibsen & Oscar Molina, 2024. "The new political economy of public sector wage-setting in Europe: Introduction to the special issue," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 30(1), pages 5-30, March.
    2. Monika Martišková & Marta Kahancová & Jakub Kostolný, 2021. "Negotiating wage (in)equality: changing union strategies in high-wage and low-wage sectors in Czechia and Slovakia," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 27(1), pages 75-96, February.
    3. Marta Kahancová & Katarína Staroňová, 2024. "Arms-length influence: Public sector wage setting and export-led economic growth in Czechia and Slovakia," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 30(1), pages 97-119, March.
    4. Bonaccolto-Töpfer, Marina & Castagnetti, Carolina & Prümer, Stephanie, 2022. "Understanding the public-private sector wage gap in Germany: New evidence from a Fixed Effects quantile Approach∗," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    5. Höpner, Martin & Baccaro, Lucio, 2022. "Das deutsche Wachstumsmodell, 1991-2019," MPIfG Discussion Paper 22/9, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    6. Berndt Keller, 2024. "Public sector employment relations: Germany in comparative perspective," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 30(1), pages 77-96, March.

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