The Design and Effects of Collectively Agreed Minimum Wages: Evidence from Sweden

Per Skedinger

No 700, Working Paper Series from Research Institute of Industrial Economics

Abstract: Minimum wages in Sweden are collectively agreed and differ by industry. Within agreements, the rates are also highly differentiated. Minimum wages are higher in Sweden than in any of the countries with statutory rates considered in this study. This is line with the view that minimum wages are higher than otherwise when unions are involved in minimum wage setting. The reported results for Sweden do no support the suggestion that adverse employment effects are modest in systems with collectively agreed rates. This runs counter to the hypothesis that unions and employers have a good sense of what constitutes a relevant market wage for unskilled workers and use this information to set minimum wages at appropriate levels.

Keywords: Minimum Wages; Collective Bargaining (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J31 J51 J52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2007-03-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0700

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