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Making Labor Market Reforms Work for Everyone: Lessons from Germany

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  • Jacob Funk Kirkegaard

    (Peterson Institute for International Economics)

Abstract

Germany has the best functioning labor market among large economies in the West. In the eyes of some, however, its success comes with a price. Questions have been raised over whether Germany's labor reforms have lowered living standards, especially for low-income workers, worsening income inequality. Germany has also been accused of selfishly riding a wave of strong foreign demand for German exports. Kirkegaard shows that Germany's recent labor market success—its low unemployment rate, high labor participation rate, and increased productivity—has indeed resulted from the structural labor reforms in the early 2000s. But the expansion of low-wage “mini-jobs”—criticized for allegedly squeezing the low-wage workforce—largely results from their increasing use as second jobs, and labor market success can be achieved at no additional rise in inequality.

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  • Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, 2014. "Making Labor Market Reforms Work for Everyone: Lessons from Germany," Policy Briefs PB14-1, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:iie:pbrief:pb14-1
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    Cited by:

    1. Beissinger, Thomas & Chusseau, Nathalie & Hellier, Joël, 2015. "Offshoring and Labour Market Reforms: Modelling the German Experience," IZA Discussion Papers 8920, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, 2014. "What Should Surplus Germany Do?," Policy Briefs PB14-14, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    3. Zoe Adams & Simon Deakin, 2014. "Institutional Solutions to Precariousness & Inequality in Labour Markets," Working Papers wp463, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    4. Beissinger, Thomas & Chusseau, Nathalie & Hellier, Joël, 2016. "Offshoring and labour market reforms in Germany: Assessment and policy implications," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 314-333.
    5. Thomas Beissinger & Nathalie Chusseau & Joel Hellier, 2014. "Offshoring, employment, labour market reform and inequality: Modelling the German experience," Working Papers 330, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    6. Beissinger, Thomas & Hellier, Joël & Marczak, Martyna, 2020. "Divergence in Labour Force Growth: Should Wages and Prices Grow Faster in Germany?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 620, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    7. Niklas Engbom & Ms. Enrica Detragiache & Ms. Faezeh Raei, 2015. "The German Labor Market Reforms and Post-Unemployment Earnings," IMF Working Papers 2015/162, International Monetary Fund.
    8. Zoe Adams & Simon Deakin, 2014. "Institutional Solutions to Precariousness and Inequality in Labour Markets," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 52(4), pages 779-809, December.
    9. Lane Kenworthy, 2015. "Do employment-conditional earnings subsidies work?," ImPRovE Working Papers 15/10, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.

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