IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/intlab/v154y2015i1p57-66.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Shrinking collective bargaining coverage, increasing income inequality: A comparison of five EU countries

Author

Listed:
  • Gerhard BOSCH

Abstract

Wage-setting institutions can play a crucial part in containing the socio-economically destabilizing growth of income inequality. Using an analytical framework that distinguishes between protective and participative standards, the author examines their respective effects on the incidence of low-paid employment and income inequality under the wage-setting systems of Belgium, France, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. His comparative focus on the interplay of statutory minimum wages and collective wage bargaining shows that while the latter is more effective than the former at reducing inequality, both require state intervention, with particular emphasis on participative standards to counter the erosion of industrial relations institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Gerhard BOSCH, 2015. "Shrinking collective bargaining coverage, increasing income inequality: A comparison of five EU countries," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 154(1), pages 57-66, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:intlab:v:154:y:2015:i:1:p:57-66
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1564-913X.2015.00226.x
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Damian Grimshaw & Gerhard Bosch & Jill Rubery, 2014. "Minimum Wages and Collective Bargaining: What Types of Pay Bargaining Can Foster Positive Pay Equity Outcomes?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 52(3), pages 470-498, September.
    2. Bosch, Gerhard & Weinkopf, Claudia, 2013. "Wechselwirkungen zwischen Mindest- und Tariflöhnen," WSI-Mitteilungen, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 66(6), pages 393-404.
    3. Wiemer Salverda & Ken Mayhew, 2009. "Capitalist economies and wage inequality," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 25(1), pages 126-154, Spring.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gerhard BOSCH, 2021. "Towards inclusive collective industrial relations: Selected articles from the International Labour Review throughout the last century," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 160(4), pages 52-65, December.
    2. Maarten Keune, 2021. "Inequality between capital and labour and among wage-earners: the role of collective bargaining and trade unions," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 27(1), pages 29-46, February.
    3. Sean O'Brady, 2021. "Fighting precarious work with institutional power: Union inclusion and its limits across spheres of action," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(4), pages 1084-1107, December.
    4. John Buchanan & Damian Oliver, 2016. "‘Fair Work’ and the Modernization of Australian Labour Standards: A Case of Institutional Plasticity Entrenching Deepening Wage Inequality," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 54(4), pages 790-814, December.
    5. Dr. Nickolaos Giovanis, 2018. "Determining Factors of Minimum Wage in the Member States of the OECD," Sumerianz Journal of Business Management and Marketing, Sumerianz Publication, vol. 1(4), pages 93-101, 12-2018.
    6. Erica Romero Pender & Patricia Elgoibar & Lourdes Munduate & Ana Belén García & Martin C Euwema, 2018. "Improving social dialogue: What employers expect from employee representatives," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 29(2), pages 169-189, June.
    7. Trine P Larsen & Mikkel Mailand & Thorsten Schulten, 2022. "Good intentions meet harsh realities: Social dialogue and precarious work in industrial cleaning," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(1), pages 7-31, February.
    8. 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.
    9. Daniela Ceccon & Marta Kahancová & Monika Martišková & Gabriele Medas & Adam Šumichrast, 2023. "LEVEL UP! Support and develop collective bargaining coverage," Research Reports 55, Central European Labour Studies Institute (CELSI).
    10. Dr. Nickolaos Giovanis, 2019. "“Determining Factors of Minimum Wage in the Member States of the OECDâ€," Sumerianz Journal of Business Management and Marketing, Sumerianz Publication, vol. 2(1), pages 6-14, 01-2019.
    11. Hick, Rod & Marx, Ive, 2022. "Poor Workers in Rich Democracies: On the Nature of In-Work Poverty and Its Relationship to Labour Market Policies," IZA Discussion Papers 15163, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Kevin Pineda‐Hernández & François Rycx & Mélanie Volral, 2022. "How collective bargaining shapes poverty: New evidence for developed countries," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 60(4), pages 895-928, December.
    13. Oscar Molina & Florian Butollo & Csaba Makó & Alejandro Godino & Ursula Holtgrewe & Anna Illsoe & Sander Junte & Trine Pernille Larsen & Miklós Illésy & Jószef Pap & Philip Wotschack, 2023. "It takes two to code: a comparative analysis of collective bargaining and artificial intelligence," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 29(1), pages 87-104, February.
    14. Coban, Mehmet Kerem, 2021. "Power Resources and Income Inequality in Switzerland and Singapore," OSF Preprints pgd65, Center for Open Science.
    15. Bjarke Refslund & Ole Henning Sørensen, 2016. "Islands in the stream? The challenges and resilience of the Danish industrial relations model in a liberalising world," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5-6), pages 530-546, November.
    16. Jens Arnholtz, 2023. "The embedded flexibility of Nordic labor market models under pressure from EU‐induced dualization—The case of posted work in Denmark and Sweden," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(2), pages 372-388, April.
    17. Susan Milner & Hélène Demilly & Sophie Pochic, 2019. "Bargained Equality: The Strengths and Weaknesses of Workplace Gender Equality Agreements and Plans in France," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 57(2), pages 275-301, June.
    18. Paola Naddeo & Stefania Cardinaleschi, 2018. "Wage Gaps By Collective Bargaining And Firm Size In Italy," RIEDS - Rivista Italiana di Economia, Demografia e Statistica - The Italian Journal of Economic, Demographic and Statistical Studies, SIEDS Societa' Italiana di Economia Demografia e Statistica, vol. 72(1), pages 31-40, January-M.
    19. Ive Marx & Gerlinde Verbist, 2018. "Belgium, a poster child for inclusive growth?," Working Papers 1810, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    20. Rod Hick; & Ive Marx;, 2022. "Poor workers in rich democracies: On the nature of in-work poverty and its relationship to labour market policies," Working Papers 2203, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    21. Pablo Blanchard & Paula Carrasco & Rodrigo Ceni & Cecilia Parada & Sofía Santín, 2021. "Distributive and displacement effects of a coordinated wage bargaining scheme," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 21-26, Instituto de Economía - IECON.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Georg Adam, 2022. "Die Entwicklung der gesetzlichen Mindestlohnsetzung in der EU und ihre Bedeutung für die Gewerkschaften," Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft - WuG, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik, vol. 48(3), pages 365-406.
    2. Leone Leonida & Marianna Marra & Sergio Scicchitano & Antonio Giangreco & Marco Biagetti, 2020. "Estimating the Wage Premium to Supervision for Middle Managers in Different Contexts: Evidence from Germany and the UK," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(6), pages 1004-1026, December.
    3. Núria Sánchez-Mira & Raquel Serrano Olivares & Pilar Carrasquer Oto, 2022. "What slips through the cracks: The distance between regulations and practices shaping the gender pay gap," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(2), pages 536-558, May.
    4. Jeroen Horemans, 2016. "Polarisation of Non-standard Employment in Europe: Exploring a Missing Piece of the Inequality Puzzle," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(1), pages 171-189, January.
    5. Onur Özdemir, 2023. "The determinants of income distribution: the role of progress in human capital," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(5), pages 4193-4227, October.
    6. Andrea Garnero & Stephan Kampelmann & François Rycx, 2015. "Sharp Teeth or Empty Mouths? European Institutional Diversity and the Sector-Level Minimum Wage Bite," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 53(4), pages 760-788, December.
    7. Pusch, Toralf, 2021. "12 Euro Mindestlohn: Deutliche Lohnsteigerungen vor allem bei nicht tarifgebundenen Beschäftigten," WSI Policy Briefs 62, The Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Hans Böckler Foundation.
    8. Grimshaw, Damian & Bertranou, Fabio & Gontero, Sonia & Urrutia, Antonia, 2024. "Negociación colectiva coordinada y multinivel: experiencias internacionales y opciones de políticas para Chile [Coordinated and multilevel collective bargaining: international experiences and polic," MPRA Paper 121701, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Massimo Pivetti, 2019. "The euro system and the overall european project: Failure or fully-fledged success?," Revista de Economía Crítica, Asociación de Economía Crítica, vol. 27, pages 112-121.
    10. Saraceno, Chiara, 2020. "Quando avere un lavoro non basta a proteggere dalla povertà," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, volume 20, number 228477, June.
    11. Aldo Barba & Massimo Pivetti, 2012. "Distribution and accumulation in post-1980 advanced capitalism," Review of Keynesian Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 1(0), pages 126-142.
    12. Bruno Palier & Kathleen Thelen, 2010. "Institutionalizing Dualism: Complementarities and Change in France and Germany," Politics & Society, , vol. 38(1), pages 119-148, March.
    13. Andrea Garnero & Stephan Kampelmann & François Rycx, 2013. "Minimum Wage Systems and Earnings Inequalities:Does Institutional Diversity Matter?," DULBEA Working Papers 13-06, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    14. Henninger, Annette, 2017. "Geschlechterpolitische Verschiebungen in der deutschen Mindestlohndebatte: ‚Equal Pay‘ für Frauen oder für männliche Leiharbeiter? [Gendered shifts in the German minimum wage debate: ‚Equal Pay’ fo," Industrielle Beziehungen. Zeitschrift für Arbeit, Organisation und Management, Verlag Barbara Budrich, vol. 24(2), pages 135-155.
    15. Bea Cantillon & Sarah Marchal & Chris Luigjes, 2015. "Decent incomes for the poor: which role for Europe?," ImPRovE Working Papers 15/20, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    16. Grodzicki, Maciej J. & Możdżeń, Michał, 2021. "Central and Eastern European economies in a Goldilocks age: A model of labor market institutional choice," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    17. Marsden, David, 2010. "The growth of extended 'entry tournaments' and the decline of institutionalised occupational labour markets in Britain," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 28740, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Zizi Goschin, 2018. "Variations Of Regional Inequalities In Romania In The Long Run," Management Strategies Journal, Constantin Brancoveanu University, vol. 42(4), pages 91-99.
    19. Kathmann, Till, 2021. "Gewerkschaftliche Strategien im Niedriglohnsektor: Eine Analyse ihrer Herausforderungen und Gelingensbedingungen," Reihe Arbeit und Wirtschaft in Bremen 33, Institut Arbeit und Wirtschaft (IAW), Universität Bremen und Arbeit­nehmer­kammer Bremen.
    20. Olivier Pintelon & Bea Cantillon & Karel Van den Bosch & Christopher T. Whelan, 2011. "The Social Stratification of Social Risks," Working Papers 1104, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:intlab:v:154:y:2015:i:1:p:57-66. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ilounch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.