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Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of collectively agreed increases in minimum wages for manual workers on employment transitions and hours.Design/methodology/approach– The econometric approach relies on the identification of workers affected by minimum wage changes, depending on their position in the wage distribution and contrasts outcomes for these workers to those for unaffected workers, with slightly higher wages.Findings– The analysis suggests that separations increase as minimum wages increase and that substitution between worker groups in response to changes in minimum wages is important in retail. In general, though, hours do not change much as minimum wages increase.Research limitations/implications– Analyses that deal with employment consequences of increasing minimum wages but disregard hours may exaggerate the overall decline in employment to the extent that job losses are concentrated among low-paid, part-time workers.Practical implications– With union-bargained minimum wages, unions and employers need to carefully consider the effects of increasing rates on employment.Social implications– The findings that there is a trade-off between higher wages among the low-paid and employment loss and that employment to some extent is reshuffled between individuals should be important from a welfare perspective.Originality/value– The literature on employment effects of minimum wages is large, but very few studies are concerned with union-bargained minimum wages. The assumptions of the econometric model are tested in a novel way by imposing fictitious minimum wages on lower-level non-manuals in the same industry, with turnover characteristics similar to those of manuals but covered by a different collective agreement with non-binding actual minimum wages.

This article surveys the literature and adds to the evidence on the impact of employment protection legislation on employment. While stringent employment protection contributes to less turnover and job reallocation, the effects on aggregate employment and unemployment over the business cycle are more uncertain. Exploitation of partial reforms and the use of micro data in recent research appear not to have affected results regarding employment and unemployment in any systematic way. Labour market prospects of young people and other marginal groups seem to worsen as a consequence of increased stringency of the legislation. It is debatable whether marginal groups have gained much from the widespread policy strategy to liberalize regulations of temporary employment and leave regulations of regular employment intact. My own analysis suggests that increased stringency of regulations for regular work is associated with a higher incidence of involuntary temporary employment, particularly among the young.

This article surveys the literature and adds to the evidence on the impact of employment protection legislation on employment. While stringent employment protection contributes to less turnover and job reallocation, the effects on aggregate employment and unemployment over the business cycle are more uncertain. Exploitation of partial reforms and the use of micro data in recent research appear not to have affected results regarding employment and unemployment in any systematic way. Labour market prospects of young people and other marginal groups seem to worsen as a consequence of increased stringency of the legislation. It is debatable whether marginal groups have gained much from the widespread policy strategy to liberalize regulations of temporary employment and leave regulations of regular employment intact. My own analysis suggests that increased stringency of regulations for regular work is associated with a higher incidence of involuntary temporary employment, particularly among the young.

Bis zur jüngsten Wirtschaftskrise hatte Schweden eine wesentlich niedrigere Arbeitslosenrate als die meisten anderen europäischen Länder. Dieser Umstand wird auf Schwedens aktive Arbeitsmarktpolitik zurückgeführt. Der Beitrag gibt zunächst einen Überblick über Theorien zur Beschäftigungswirksamkeit von Arbeitsmarktprogrammen und berichtet dann über empirische Ergebnisse jüngster schwedischer Studien über die makroökonomischen Auswirkungen dieser Politik. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, daß der vermeintliche Nutzen staatlicher Arbeitsmarktpolitik möglicherweise überschätzt wurde. (BIBB2)

Bis zur jüngsten Wirtschaftskrise hatte Schweden eine wesentlich niedrigere Arbeitslosenrate als die meisten anderen europäischen Länder. Dieser Umstand wird auf Schwedens aktive Arbeitsmarktpolitik zurückgeführt. Der Beitrag gibt zunächst einen Überblick über Theorien zur Beschäftigungswirksamkeit von Arbeitsmarktprogrammen und berichtet dann über empirische Ergebnisse jüngster schwedischer Studien über die makroökonomischen Auswirkungen dieser Politik. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, daß der vermeintliche Nutzen staatlicher Arbeitsmarktpolitik möglicherweise überschätzt wurde. (BIBB2)

ResumenSobre la base de una encuesta a gran escala de empresas suecas, los autores identifican una heterogeneidad significativa en las actitudes de los empleadores hacia los refugiados, su contratación, la fijación de sus salarios y la discriminación, aunque la experiencia de tener refugiados en plantilla reduce las actitudes negativas. Las razones de las empresas para dejar de contratar refugiados no tienen que ver con la discriminación por parte del personal nativo o los clientes, sino con su rendimiento. Si bien la mayoría de las empresas no considera el salario mínimo estipulado por convenio como un obstáculo importante a la contratación de refugiados, las empresas con un gran porcentaje de refugiados en plantilla declaran que reducirlo mejoraría sustancialmente el empleo.

RésuméEn se fondant sur une enquête auprès des entreprises, menée à grande échelle en Suède, les auteurs concluent à une hétérogénéité importante des attitudes par rapport à la main‐d'œuvre immigrée d'origine réfugiée, au comportement professionnel de ces travailleurs, à leur niveau de salaire et à la discrimination à leur égard, même si une expérience préalable en la matière limite les attitudes négatives. Pour la majorité des entreprises, les salaires minima conventionnels ne constituent pas un obstacle majeur au recrutement de réfugiés. Cependant, celles qui emploient beaucoup de réfugiés estiment que la réduction de ces seuils serait très bénéfique à l'emploi.

AbstractBased on a large‐scale survey of Swedish firms, the authors identify significant heterogeneity in their attitudes towards refugee hiring, job performance, wage setting and discrimination, though experience of employing refugees reduces negative attitudes. Firms' reasons for discontinuing their employment of refugees are not related to discrimination by staff or customers, but rather to refugees' suboptimal job performance. While the majority of firms do not regard the collectively agreed minimum wages as an important obstacle to the hiring of refugees, firms with a large share of refugees on the payroll report that reducing those wage rates would enhance employment substantially.