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

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  • 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.

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  • 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
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1564-913X.2015.00226.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    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.
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    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.

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