Wages

Empirical analyses of longitudinal data on some 66 manufacturing companies on Britain lead us to the following three conclusions. First, agreed reductions in restrictive work practices lead to increases in productivity. Second, controlling for such agreed reductions, there is some weak evidence that both relative pay and aggregate labour market slack have some positive impact on productivity. Third, falls in market share or declines in the financial health of companies lead to both lower pay rises and reductions in restrictive practices.

How Does Financial Pressure Affect Firms?

How does monetary policy work? While one aspect of the investigation has focused on the behaviour of consumers, another has concentrated on the behaviour of companies faced with the kind of financial pressures associated with tight monetary policy. The general focus in this area is on the impact of financial constraints on investment expenditures including fixed capital and inventories. Our purpose is to shift this focus somewhat and to concentrate on the impact of financial pressure on other aspects of company behaviour. We first discuss briefly the theoretical background and the empirical formulation. Then, using panel data on a large number of UK companies, we derive a number of results.

Wages, effort and productivity

Empirical analyses of longitudinal data on some 66 manufacturing companies on Britain lead us to the following three conclusions. First, agreed reductions in restrictive work practices lead to increases in productivity. Second, controlling for such agreed reductions, there is some weak evidence that both relative pay and aggregate labour market slack have some positive impact on productivity. Third, falls in market share or declines in the financial health of companies lead to both lower pay rises and reductions in restrictive practices

Wages

Empirical analyses of longitudinal data on some 66 manufacturing companies on Britain lead us to the following three conclusions. First, agreed reductions in restrictive work practices lead to increases in productivity. Second, controlling for such agreed reductions, there is some weak evidence that both relative pay and aggregate labour market slack have some positive impact on productivity. Third, falls in market share or declines in the financial health of companies lead to both lower pay rises and reductions in restrictive practices

Accounting for strikes: evidence from UK manufacturing in the 1980s

The decreases in the number of strikes in the UK during the 1980s has revived the discussion of the explanatory factors of strike frequency. This paper investigates explanations for the variations of strike frequency in British manufacturing. The framework used is that of the joint cost model; strike frequency is inversely related to strike costs. The results from a panel of 90 manufacturing industries for the period 1983-88 show some support for the hypothesis that strikes decreased because they became more expensive. In the main we find that factors which affect both employers and employees (such as revenue, inventories) are significant in explaining variations in strike frequency. Factors which affect only employees, however, such as the unemployment rate, are not

Does the Market for Top Executives Work? CEO Pay and Turnover in Small UK Companies

This paper presents the results of our investigation into the operation of the managerial labour market in small and medium sized manufacturing companies. Using a sample of some 40 or so companies we study the sensitivity of managerial pay and tenure to company performance. Managerial pay in this type of firms is much lower than the six digit figures quoted for large public companies and CEO turnover is much higher than we expected. We find some evidence to suggest that pay in small companies is sensitive to sales growth and that CEO tenure in public companies responds to the growth in sales

Human capital investment and innovation: what are the connections?

Finegold and Soskice (1998) argue that Britain is trapped in a ''low-skills'' equilibrium. In Redding (1996), this notion is formalised in a dynamic model which relies on strategic complementaries between firms'' investments in R & D and workers'' investments in human capital. In this paper, we investigate the firms'' side of the story, notably whether their investments in fixed capital and R & D are influenced by the availability of human capital. The latter we capture by using information on the relative wages of the relevant occupational categories or on skilled labour shortages. Our results indicate that a permanent 10 percentage point increase in the number of companies in a firm''s industry reporting skilled labour shortages will lead to a permanent 10 per cent reduction in its fixed capital investment and a temporary 4 per cent reduction in its R & D expenditure

Sectoral Collective Wage Agreements Data for Greece, 2005-2019

This data article describes a dataset of the main sectoral collective wage agreements signed in Greece between 2005 and 2019. The authors have read through the text of the collective agreements and codified the information provided therein. Information on 70 or so variables for each agreement are presented together with quantitative aggregate information on the sector and the occupations to which the agreement pertains. More specifically, some 20 or so variables refer to general features of the agreement (e.g. duration, extension or otherwise, parties to the bargain, use of mediation/arbitration services for the conclusion of the agreement etc) while most of the remaining variables refer to the remuneration of two main occupational groups within each sector (basic wage, allowances). Finally, information on average wages and the employment in the sector from the Hellenic Statistical Authority and the Ergani administrative database are also included. The codification of these agreements can prove useful for economists, industrial relations experts and political scientists.THIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV