Löhne und Beschäftigung: Was wissen wir mehr als vor 25 Jahren? (Wages and employment * what more do we know than 25 years ago?)

"This article, which serves as the introduction to the special issue focusing on 'wages and employment', deals with the key developments of the past 25 years in this area of research. First, the latest insights and findings of macro- and microeconomic theory as well as of empirical knowledge on the explanation and quantification of the relationship between wage level, wage structure and employment as well as of employment structure are the centre of attention, with the relevant progress in econometry also being acknowledged. Then, the importance of wage rigidities is dealt with, which are significant both from a macro- and a microeconomic point of view, and which have been at the centre of scientific and economic-policy discussions particularly in recent years. Finally, wage-policy conclusions are examined briefly. What becomes obvious is that a negative relationship between wages and employment can be detected far more clearly nowadays than a quarter of a century ago. This is equally true on the basis of theoretical and empirical analysis with a micro- and macroeconomic background, even if, when based on disequilibrium models, for the latter no positive employment effects due to reductions in real wages can be expected in times of recession." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))