We study minimum wage violations over the period 2003–12 in ten Central and Eastern European countries which all have national statutory minimum wages. We measure the incidence and depth of violation, and estimated individual, workplace and macro-level correlates of non-compliance. While the incidence of violation remains relatively low, the workers that minimum wage policies seek to protect appear to be the most likely to be affected by non-compliance. Over time, higher minimum-to-average wage ratios are related to a higher incidence of violation.
We study the changes in the task content of jobs in 24 European countries between 1998 and 2015. We link the O*NET occupational data with the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS), and use the methodology of Acemoglu and Autor (2011). The intensity of non-routine cognitive tasks grew in all countries, while the intensity of manual tasks declined. Workforce upskilling was the major factor contributing to these developments. The intensity of routine cognitive tasks grew in most Central and Eastern European countries but declined in Western European countries. This difference is attributed to the contrasting patterns of structural changes in these groups of countries.
This paper aims to identify factors behind cyclical fluctuations and differences in adjustments to shocks in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain (GIPS) and a reference country – Germany. All GIPS countries were more vulnerable to productivity and foreign demand shocks than Germany. They would have experienced lower macroeconomic volatility if they reacted to their shocks like Germany.
The volume on demographic, economic, and social aspects of rapid population ageing in Poland. Includes policy-oriented chapters by Piotr Błędowski, Agnieszka Chłoń-Domińczak (PhD), Agnieszka Fihel, Aneta Kiełczewska, Irena E. Kotowska, Iga Magda, Magda Malec, Marek Okólski, Joanna Tyrowicz, and myself. Edited by Jan Rutkowski and me.
A chapter outlining the main stylised facts and institutional factors behind the rise in temporary employment and labour market segmentation in Poland. Included in the volume on employment regulation and non-standard employment forms edited by Martin Myant and Agnieszka Piasna. Open access pdf available.
Job polarization can pose serious problems for emerging economies that rely on worker reallocation from low-skilled to middle-skilled jobs to converge toward advanced economies. Evidence from Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries shows that structural change and education expansion can prevent polarization, as they enable a shift from manual to cognitive work and prevent the “hollowing out” of middle-skilled jobs. However, in CEE countries they have also led to a high routine cognitive content of jobs, which makes such jobs susceptible to automation and computerization in the future.
