Wage formation in the context of collective bargaining a comment

The comment was basically conceived while the author was employed at the Catholic University of Tilburg and refined while the author was employed at the Dutch Treasury. The author is responsible for the contents.     

Market and institutional forces in industrial relations: the development of national collective bargaining, 1910–1920

This article reviews recent trends in the historiography of British industrial relations, and highlights a growing emphasis on the influence of employers and impersonal economic forces. In response, the article argues for a renewed recognition of trade unions as a proactive force in the development of industrial relations systems. This view is supported by analysis of the influence of market and institutional forces upon the spread of national collective bargaining. The conclusion is that commercial pressures on employers were relatively unimportant in a process driven by human agency, institutional forces, and wider economic pressures.     

从工资差异到趋同:外溢的视角

本文从理论和实证两个角度集中回顾了工资外溢领域的相关文献。这一领域的理论主要从工资的同步决定和工资先后决定两个方向展开,前者以工会垄断模型为线索,后者重点研究工资决定的领导者-追随者模型。而实证研究主要讨论工资外溢的发生机制,集中在以下三个层面:行业之间、外资企业和内资企业之间以及私有部门和公共部门之间,主要结论如下:不同层面都存在工资外溢,而且工资外溢主要通过在相似的产品和劳动力市场的竞争以及出于制度或心理上的公平考虑而产生的嫉妒效应发生。文章联系中国已有的工资相互关联如工资攀比和趋同等以及长期存在的行业间工资差距持续扩大等现象,提出研究中国工资外溢的初步思路。     

Trends in Wage Inequality in the Netherlands

De Economist - In this paper I analyze changes in the wage distribution in the Netherlands. I use a matched employer-employee dataset that covers the population of employees. Wage inequality...     

Wage Reform in Singapore

Singapore attained self-government in 1959. Her policy of relying on the MNCs to achieve industrialization has proven to be very successful. The Singapore model shows that economic strategy must be flexible to meet the changing needs of the Singapore economy. One such economic strategy is the wage system.
During the period 1959–1990, the wage system in Singapore changed twice, once in 1968, and again in 1985. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we examine the need for wage reform, and secondly to discuss various patterns of flexible wage models in Singapore. The main conclusion is that Singapore's flexible wage models can benefit both the worker and the employer.     

中国城市化背景下村落“空心化”形成机制及调控研究

在我国城市化迅速发展的进程中,广大农村却出现了日益严重的空心化问题,在分析和界定空心化聚落的基础上,探讨了聚落空心化的成因机制,而且分析了农村聚落空心化带来的问题,最后探讨了制止聚落空心化的若干措施,为建设社会主义新农村提供科学依据。     

最低工资制讨论中的几个热点问题

到2004年底,我国31个省(自治区、直辖市)全部建立了最低工资制度。目前,国家对最低工资标准与职工平均工资水平的比例关系没有统一的规定,国际上也不存在单独根据社会平均工资一定比例确定最低工资标准的所谓“社会平均工资法”,判断一个地区最低工资标准是否合理,要全面综合考虑。我国各地区工资标准差距客观存在,根本原因是我国经济发展不平衡。     

上海市最低工资标准的合理性——基于最低工资收入者角度的实证分析

最低工资制度是世界各国普遍采用的劳动保障制度,其目的在于维护劳动者取得劳动报酬的合法权利,保障劳动者尤其是低收入劳动者及其家庭成员的基本生活。文章依据相关法规政策规定的最低工资标准制定时需要考虑的因素,从保障低收入劳动者基本生活需要的角度,应用统计性描述方法对1993-2012年上海市最低工资与职工平均工资、人均GDP、最低社会保障线、人均消费性支出等进行分析。分析结果发现上海市最低工资与职工月平均工资的比远低于40%~60%的国际标准,与人均GDP的比值低于全国平均水平,表明上海市最低工资标准偏低,需要进一步改进或完善相关政策。     

Wage Inequality and the New Economy

Many economists have argued that the observed increase in wageinequality in developed economies over the past 30 years isdue to skill-biased technical progress. In this paper we putforward a somewhat different technology-based argument, namelythat the increased inequality was caused by technical changelinked to the pervasive innovation wave associated with theNew Economy. This technical change was not skill-biased in theusual sense, but rather raised the reward to adaptability. Thisalternative approach based on the notion of ‘general-purposetechnology’ can shed light on a number of outstandingpuzzles on the evolution of wage inequality both between andwithin educational groups.     

Wage Reforms in China During the 1990s

In urban areas of China, economic reforms were intensely implemented after 1984. We focus on two primary aspects of the reforms in the 1990s, those pertaining to the labor market and to wages. Based on original interviews and two unique household data sets, we investigate the effects of the reforms. Our first finding is that the components of annual income have changed, reflecting fewer subsidies and more diverse sources of income (such as self-employment), over the period from 1995 to 1999. By 1999, the wage structure reflects less seniority-based pay, allows for more discretion in rewarding non-productive characteristics (gender and Communist Party membership, for example) and also permits more productivity-related pay (as evidenced by increased returns to human capital).     

Wage relativities in an open economy

Zusammenfassung Lohnstruktur in einer offenen Volkswirtschaft. — Zweck dieses Aufsatzes ist es, die wirtschaftlichen Folgen des Bestehens unterschiedlicher L?hne in einer offenen Volkswirtschaft zu untersuchen. Das hier er?rterte Modell enth?lt zwei Arbeitsm?rkte und konzentriert sich auf deren Interdependenz im Proze\ der Lohnverhandlungen. Die L?hne werden zwar als flexibel angesehen, müssen aber in einem gewissen Verh?ltnis zueinander stehen. Die Grundstruktur des Modells gleicht der Struktur des in den letzten Jahren entwickelten Modells des allgemeinen Gleichgewichts mit sektorspezifischem Kapital. Allerdings ist es hier der Faktor Arbeit, der als sektorspezifisch betrachtet wird. Diese Annahme erlaubt zusammen mit der Rigidit?t der relativen L?hne eine Analyse der Arbeitslosigkeit im Rahmen eines Modells des allgemeinen Gleichgewichts. Es werden die komparativ-statischen Eigenschaften des Modells er?rtert und einige Schlüsse gezogen im Hinblick auf die Wirksamkeit wirtschaftspolitischer Ma\nahmen, die auf das Ziel der Vollbesch?ftigung gerichtet sind.

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Résumé Les relativités salariales dans une économie ouverte. — Le but de cet article est d’analyser les conséquences économiques de l’existence des relativités salariales dans une économie ouverte. Le modèle discuté ici introduit deux marchés de main-d’∄uvre et se concentre sur l’interdépendance du processus des négociations des salaires. On dit que les salaires sont flexibles, cependant ils doivent rester dans une certaine relation l’un à l’autre. La structure essentielle du modèle est très similaire à celle du modèle d’équilibre général au capital secteur-spécifique développé dans les années dernières. Cependant, il est supposé dans cet article que c’est la main-d’∄uvre qui est secteur-spécifique. Cette supposition combinée avec la rigidité des salaires relatifs permet une analyse du ch?mage dans le cadre de l’équilibre général. L’auteur discute les propriétés comparatives statiques du modèle et tire quelques conclusions en ce qui concerne l’efficacité des politiques économiques qui tendent au plein emploi.

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Resumen Relatividades salariales en una economía abierta. — El propósito de este artículo es investigar las consecuencias económicas de la existencia de ralatividades salariales en una economía abierta. El modelo discutido aquí introduce dos mercados laborales y se enfoca sobre la interdependencia del proceso de negociación salarial. Los salarios se definen como flexibles, pero deben mantener cierta relación entre si. La estructura básica del modelo es muy similar al modelo de equilibrio general con capital específico para cada sector desarrollado en a?os recientes. Sin embargo se supone que es el trabajo el específico para cada sector. Este cambio en el supuesto, combinado con la rigidez de los salarios relativos, permite un análisis del desempleo en el marco del equilibrio general. Se discuten propiedades comparativas estáticas del modelo y algunas implicaciones trazadas para la efectividad de polfticas económicas dirigidas hacia el pleno empleo.

     

The Origins and Early Impact of the Minimum Wage in Agriculture

This article examines the effects on wages and employment of the minimum wage in agriculture during the interwar period. It finds that the impact of regulation was to raise the wage for agricultural labourers by 13 per cent when it was (re)introduced in 1924, by 15 per cent in the late 1920s, and by more than 20 per cent in the 1930s. The effect on farm employment was to reduce it by about 54,000 (6.5 per cent) in 1929 up to a peak of 97,000 (13.3 per cent) in 1937. The minimum wage lifted out of poverty many families of farm labourers who remained employed, but it significantly lowered the incomes of farmers, particularly during the 1930s.