TY - JOUR T1 - Wage and Workforce Adjustments in the Economic Crisis in Germany and the Netherlands JF - European Journal of Industrial Relations Y1 - 2014 A1 - Tijdens, Kea A1 - Maarten van Klaveren A1 - Reinhard Bispinck A1 - Heiner Dribbusch A1 - Fikret Öz KW - collective agreements KW - economic crisis KW - Germany KW - industrial relations KW - labor hoarding KW - Netherlands KW - workforce adjustments AB -

This study uses data from a continuous employee web-survey to investigate the trade-off between wage and workforce adjustments and the role of industrial relations in firm-level responses to the economic crisis in Germany and the Netherlands. Workforce adjustments seemed to be a continuous organizational strategy, but wage adjustments were less often reported. We found no large-scale evidence of wage concessions being traded-off for job protection in the two countries. Collective bargaining ensured that wage-setting was more robust than employment protection: employees covered by collective agreements reported workforce adjustments more often than wage adjustments. Low-educated and low-wage employees reported basic wage reductions more often: the economic crisis increased wage inequality. Labor hoarding was reported predominantly by young, male employees with a permanent, full-time contract.

VL - 20 L2 - eng CP - 2 ER -