In this paper we provide new evidence on aggregate labour market flexibility in the four largest new EU member states from Central Europe (CEEC4) and a benchmark of existing EU countries (EU9). This is done trough direct comparison of several labour market institutions from which we derive an institutional summary indicator. Another approach that we follow is the estimation of aggregate wage Phillips curves from which we obtain estimates for the wage responsiveness to unemployment in these countries. The results show that the CEEC4 cannot be regarded as an homogeneous group. The Czech Republic and Hungary are relatively flexible and comparable to the United Kingdom. Poland belongs to a subgroup with France, Germany and Italy, with reduced labour market flexibility. The results are especially problematic for the Slovak Republic where aggregate wages do not respond to unemployment, although labour market institutions are still more supportive to flexibility than in most incumbent EU countries.
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Paper provided by University of Antwerp, Faculty of Applied Economics in its series Working Papers with number
2007016.
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 1990.
"The Wage Curve,"
NBER Working Papers
3181, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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Blanchflower, D. & Oswald, A., 1989.
"The Wage Curve,"
Papers
340, London School of Economics - Centre for Labour Economics.