Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics https://hdl.handle.net/10419/109 2026-11-06T06:20:29Z 2026-11-06T06:20:29Z Weikl, Jan https://hdl.handle.net/10419/336772 2026-02-19T02:56:21Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Preference-driven contract design: How education alters risk, patience, and effort in incentive schemes Authors: Weikl, Jan Abstract: Performance-contingent pay raises productivity, yet in the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) only about 16% of workers report receiving performance pay, with the incidence being roughly seven percentage points higher among university graduates than among non-graduates. This coexistence of low aggregate take-up and a strong skill gradient is puzzling. This paper accounts for these twin facts with a principal-agent model in which the entire preference vector-risk aversion, probability weighting, time discounting, and effort cost-varies systematically with schooling. Endogenizing preferences yields two predictions: (i) optimal incentive slopes and induced effort increase with education-linked preferences; (ii) the productivity threshold for accepting performance pay falls with schooling, while heterogeneity in tastes keeps worker participation incomplete. A light calibration guided by documented schooling gradients reproduces modest overall incidence alongside a pronounced skill gradient. The key novelty is to treat the preference vector as an endogenous state variable that enters both sides of the principal-agent problem, shaping the optimisation problems of both the firm and the worker rather than being taken as a fixed primitive.

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z Pyka, Vinzenz Rieder, André https://hdl.handle.net/10419/344102 2026-10-09T15:51:03Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: The myth of restrictive working-time agreements: Firms' working-time adjustment after exit from collective bargaining Authors: Pyka, Vinzenz; Rieder, André Abstract: Employers in Germany argue that collective agreements restrict their flexibility concerning working hours. Using data from the IAB Establishment Panel for the years 2008 to 2024, we investigate working-time adjustments after exit from collective bargaining. We find that exit is associated with only a modest increase in weekly working hours of around 0.3 to 0.6 per cent using fixed-effects and event-study models, corresponding to eight to thirteen additional minutes per week. This adjustment occurs shortly after leaving collective bargaining coverage. We further find no evidence that other margins of working-time adjustment, such as Saturday or Sunday work, are used more extensively after exit. In contrast to previous survey evidence, our findings call into question that working-hours constraints are one of the main drivers of exit from collective bargaining coverage.

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z Schnabel, Claus https://hdl.handle.net/10419/311831 2025-02-22T02:59:36Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Unions and employers' associations in Germany: A survey of their membership, density and bargaining coverage Authors: Schnabel, Claus Abstract: Trade unions and employers' associations play an important role in Germany not only in wage setting, but also in social policy and labour market regulation. While the majority of companies are organised in employers' associations, less than one fifth of employees are still members of a trade union. Union density has declined substantially over the last decades whereas on the employers' side density has fallen to a lesser extent as most employers' associations have introduced the option of bargaining-free membership. At the same time, the collective bargaining coverage of companies and employees has been reduced drastically. Nowadays, less than half of employees in Germany are formally covered by collective agreements. Nevertheless, collective agreements are still directly or indirectly relevant for three out of four employees, and they are an important anchor for wage setting in the entire economy. The erosion of (multiemployer) bargaining coverage has manifold reasons and has been associated with an increased heterogeneity in wage setting over the last decades. The ongoing falls in both bargaining coverage and union density have prompted a controversial discussion of how to stabilise the German system of industrial relations.

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z Pyka, Vinzenz https://hdl.handle.net/10419/321882 2025-07-23T01:54:25Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Pay clauses in public procurement: The wage impact of collective bargaining compliance laws in Germany Authors: Pyka, Vinzenz Abstract: Using administrative data from Germany, this study provides first evidence on the wage effects of collective bargaining compliance laws. These laws require establishments receiving public contracts to pay wages set by a representative collective agreement, even if they are not formally bound by one. Leveraging variation in the timing of law implementation across federal states, and focusing on the public transport sector - where regulation is uniform and demand is driven solely by state-level needs - I estimate dynamic treatment effects using event-study designs. The results indicate that within five years of the law's implementation, wage increases were on average 2.9 to 4.6 per cent higher in federal states with such a law compared to those without one - but only in East Germany. These findings highlight the potential for securing collectively agreed wages in times of declining collective bargaining coverage.

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z