Impact of Opening Clauses on Bargained Wages

Wolf Dieter Heinbach

No 22, IAW Discussion Papers from Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW)

Abstract: This paper is an analysis of the impact of different bargaining regimes on firm-specific wages and wage dispersion. In recent years, firms in Germany favored more flexible than collective bargained wages. Opening clauses were introduced to combine collective bargaining and flexible adaptation of e.g. wages to firm-specific needs. In an own survey, it was evaluated whether central collective agreements contain these opening clauses. Then, the gathered information about opening clauses were linked to the Salary and Wage Structure Survey 2001. Focussing on central bargaining agreements, it has been tested whether bargained wages and wage dispersion differ under opened central bargaining coverage from that of non-opened central bargaining regimes. While wages with collective bargaining regimes tend to be higher, it could be found that wage dispersion under opened central collective bargaining coverage is slightly wider compared to non-opened central bargaining regime.

Keywords: wages and wage dispersion; opening clauses; collective bargaining (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J31 J51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2005-12
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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