Low-wage Work in Europe: The Role of Industry and Labor Market Institutions

• In Event: 3555 - Section on the Political Economy of the World-System Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 1. Economy and Inequality in Contemporary Capitalism

Abstract

The growth of income inequality across advanced, industrialized nations over the last several decades has spurred on an increased interest in the problem of low-wage employment. Many of these same countries have seen significant changes to their labor market institutions and their welfare states, declines in previously well-paying industries such as manufacturing, and issues related to social dumping and migration flow of workers. Using highly accurate earnings data from administrative data, trends in low-wage work since the mid-1990s are examined for seven European countries (three Scandinavian, two continental, and two Eastern European) which are emblematic of the above issues. Additionally, industry-level trends in low-wage work are also examined across countries. Previous studies of low-wage work have found that low-wage jobs tend to be scarce in core industries such as manufacturing and plentiful in service industry areas such as retail or hotel work. These early findings are broadly confirmed here, but significant industry-level variation in levels and trends of low-wage work are also found across the countries examined here. Industry-level trends are related to the actions of labor unions and other labor actors within specific countries.

Author

• Anthony Rainey, University of Massachusetts at Amherst