Lower coverage but stronger unions? Institutional changes and union wage premia in Central Europe

Analyze the union wage premium in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland around the time of their accession to the EU. * The union wage premium after accession to the EU became bigger and more significant for Poland and Hungary. * Institutional reforms increased the social partners' ability to bargain and enforce wage agreements. * In the Czech Republic, several factors attenuated the effect of bargaining coverage upon wages. In this paper we use the national samples from the European Structure of Earnings Survey (ESES) to analyze the evolution of the wage premium of firm- and industry-level... Mehr ...