30,000 minimum wages: The economic effects of collective bargaining extensions

Pedro Martins

No 413, GLO Discussion Paper Series from Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Abstract: Many governments extend the coverage of collective agreements to workers and employ- ers that were not involved in their bargaining. These extensions may address coordination issues but may also distort competition by imposing sector-specific minimum wages and other work conditions that are not suitable for some firms and workers. In this paper, we analyse the impact of such extensions along several economic margins. Drawing on worker- and firm-level monthly data for Portugal, a country where extensions have been widespread, and the scattered timing of the extensions, we find that, while continuing workers experience wage increases following an extension, formal employment and wage bills in the relevant sectors fall, on average, by 2%. These results increase by about 25% across small firms and are driven by reduced hirings. In contrast, the employment and wage bills of independent contractors, who are not subject to labour law or collective bargaining, increases by over 1% following an extension.

Keywords: Collective agreements; Worker flows; Labour law (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J23 J52 K31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-lab and nep-law
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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Related works:
Journal Article: 30,000 Minimum Wages: The Economic Effects of Collective Bargaining Extensions (2021)
Working Paper: 30,000 Minimum Wages: The Economic Effects of Collective Bargaining Extensions (2014)
Working Paper: 30,000 minimum wages: the economic effects of collective bargaining extensions (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:glodps:413

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