PDF《Gerhard Bosch》

1 Gerhard Bosch Low wage work in five European countries and the US Abstract This paper presents some of the key findings of studies on low wage work in the United States and five European countries, namely Denmark, Germany, France, the Netherlands and United Kingdom, initiated and funded by the Russell Sage Foundation.

The research on the United States summarized

2003 in Low-Wage America: How Employers are Reshaping Opportunities in the Workplace (Applebaum, Bernhardt and Murnane 2003) illustrates how US firms were responding to economic globalization, deregulation and technological change and how such responses were affecting typically low- wage workers. This approach was extended by an international comparaison which sought to determine wether the generally much stronger product and labour market regulations in Europe as well as the greater role played by the welfare state and collective bargaining influence business strategies and reduce the incidence of low wage work and enhance job quality for low wage workers. Section

1 of this paper presents the main findings on the level and trends of low wage work and the principal characteristics of the low wage workers in each country. Section

2 analyzes the various pay setting institutions which determine pay in the six economies. Section

3 reviews the effect of national institutions that affect the labour supply. Section

4 examines the question if there is a trade-off between employment and low pay. Section

5 draws some conclusions on the impact of institutions on the level and development of low wage work. Introduction This article presents some of the key findings of studies on low wage work in the United States and five European countries, namely Denmark, Germany, France, the Netherlands and United Kingdom, initiated and funded by the Russell Sage Foundation. The research on the United States summarized

2003 in Low-Wage America: How Employers are Reshaping Opportunities in the Workplace (Applebaum, Bernhardt and Murnane 2003) illustrates how US firms were responding to economic globalization, deregulation and technological change and how such responses were affecting typically low- wage workers. One conclusion that emerged from this work was the notion that employers have significant discretion about the way they organize the use of their workers. Most US firms responded to the economic pressures by cost-cutting efforts which resultetd in deterioating pay and working conditions. Some companies choose the alternative high road in organizing and rewarding the work by

2 improving the producitivity of their workers through reorganizing innovative forms of work organization and investing in training and new technologies. Another conclusion was that the decision to adopt the high road was shaped by institutions. Because of the weak regulation of product and labour markets, however, US firms did not face great constraints on their business strategies to choose low road strategies. This approach was extended by an international comparaison which sought to determine wether the generally much stronger product and labour market regulations in Europe as well as the greater role played by the welfare state and collective bargaining influence business strategies and reduce the incidence of low wage work and enhance job quality for low wage workers1 . The comparaison of the national institutional structures in these countries was supplemented by case studies on specific jobs in five industries in all countries C call centers, food processing, retail outlets, hospitals, and hotels. These case studies were exploring the effects of variations in institutional structures on jobs which were typically low paid in the United States. They also help to understand how inclusive or exclusive the national institutional structures are. In exclusive systems, the pay and other terms and conditions of employees with strong bargaining power have little or no effect on employees with weaker bargaining power within a company, within an industry or across industries. Inclusive systems extend the benefits of such bargaining power to workers who have relatively little bargaining power in their own right. The more inclusive a set of institutions, the better protected are those at the low end of the workforce. Section