Wages and Employment Across Skill Groups

This book investigates whether a lack of wage flexibility is at the root of the unemployment problem in West Germany. In the presence of a skill bias in labor demand, only the choice between higher wage inequality or higher unemployment rates seems to exist. Whether and in what way this line of thought is consistent with the experience of West Germany is scrutinized empirically. The analysis ranges from extensive descriptive evidence on labor market trends to the estimation of a structural model of wage bargaining.