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Klappentext Contributions to this volume review, in international perspective, the "European social model" of collective bargaining, minimum wages, employment rights, and social welfare support, which is seen as both cause and cure for joblessness and low-wage employment in Europe. They find that collective bargaining and minimum wages protect vulnerable workers, while wage flexibility is not economically effective in creating jobs for the low-skilled. Zusammenfassung Low-skilled workers face a future of joblessness or low-wage, insecure employment as technological change and globalization impact on the advanced economies. 'The European social model' of collective bargaining, minimum wages, employment rights, and social welfare support is alternately cited as both cause and cure. The contributions to this book review the evidence and find that, while the European model cannot remedy adverse global trends affecting low-skilled workers, it does achieve significant success in moderating them. Collective bargaining and wage regulation reduce the incidence of low pay. Minimum wages at prevailing levels provide significant wage protection for more vulnerable workers, without substantial job losses. The significant 'jobs deficit' of Germany relative to the USA in low-wage services is not the outcome of excessively high German wages. Conversely, reliance on wage flexibility to create jobs for the low-skilled does not emerge as economically effective, and can no longer be regarded as the simple panacea. Inhaltsverzeichnis Introduction 1: Claudio Lucifora: Wage inequalities and low pay: the role of labour market institutions 2: Andrew Glyn and Wiemer Salverda: Employment inequalities 3: Rita Asplund and Inga Persson: Low pay - a special affliction of women 4: Peter Sloane and Ioannis Theodossiou: Earnings mobility of the low-paid 5: Brian Nolan and Ive Marx: Low pay and household poverty 6: Stephen Bazen: Minimum wages and low-wage employment 7: Francis Kramarz: The French experience of youth employment programmes and payroll tax exemptions 8: Richard Freeman and Ronald Schettkat: Low-wage services: interpreting the US-German difference 9: Mary Gregory and Stephen Machin: The downside of trade or technological change? Explaining the deteriorating employment and wage position of the low-skilled 10: Lex Borghans and Andries de Grip: Skills and low pay: upgrading or over-education? ...
