Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/223093 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
wiiw Research Report No. 443
Publisher: 
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw), Vienna
Abstract: 
Labour markets in the Central and Eastern European member states of the EU (EU-CEE8) have improved significantly since the global economic crisis of 2008-2009. Unemployment rates have declined steadily, primarily due to adverse demographic trends and massive outward migration to the West, which have resulted in a decline in the working-age population. Nevertheless, until recently wage growth in EU-CEE8 was rather restrained, resulting in generally stable wage shares. The so-called 'Phillips curve', which represents a negative correlation between unemployment and wage growth, has not held for most of EU CEE8 during this period - unlike, for example, for Austria or Germany. The main reasons for this have been the progressive flexibilisation and liberalisation of the labour markets of EU CEE countries in the years since the economic crisis. In particular, wage negotiation mechanisms have been decentralised and the degree of coverage by collective-bargaining agreements has declined, in some cases dramatically. This has tended to weaken the negotiating position of employees, thereby counteracting the positive effects of the general improvement in the labour market situation.
Subjects: 
wages
wage share
demographic trends
migration
Phillips curve
wage-setting mechanisms
JEL: 
J11
J31
J4
J50
Document Type: 
Research Report

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