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This book explains the role of formal labour market institutions in keeping the labour utilisation in Central and Eastern Europe above the level characteristic for Western European states. It provides an innovative and enriching take on labour utilisation at large and how various formal labour market institutions can affect the ongoing trend in labour utilisation in a way that is not covered by the extant literature. The impact of labour market institutions on labour market outcomes is analysed throughout 12 chapters, both from a cross-country perspective and in detailed case-studies, by 21 labour market experts from various CEE countries.

Most chapters are based on empirical methods yet are presented in an easy-to-follow way in order to make the book also accessible for a non-scientific audience.

The volume explores three key questions:

How can labour utilisation be increased by labour market institutions? Which CEE countries managed to create a labour market institutional framework beneficial for labour utilisation? How should the labour market institutions in CEE countries be reformed in order to increase labour utilisation?

The book argues that the legacy of transition reforms and a centrally planned past is still relevant in explaining common patterns among CEE countries and concludes that increasing the stock of skills accumulated by the employed and improving utilisation of these skills seems to be the first-best solution to increase labour utilisation.

The book will be of interest to post-graduate researchers and academics in the fields of labour economics, regional economics, and macroeconomics as well as scholars interested in adopting an institutional analysis approach. Additionally, due to the broader policy implications of the topic, the book will appeal to policymakers and experts interested in labour economics.

This book explains the role of formal labour market institutions in keeping the labour utilisation in Central and Eastern Europe above the level characteristic for Western European states. It provides an innovative and enriching take on labour utilisation at large and how various formal labour market institutions can affect the ongoing trend in labour utilisation in a way that is not covered by the extant literature. The impact of labour market institutions on labour market outcomes is analysed throughout 12 chapters, both from a cross-country perspective and in detailed case-studies, by 21 labour market experts from various CEE countries.

Most chapters are based on empirical methods yet are presented in an easy-to-follow way in order to make the book also accessible for a non-scientific audience.

The volume explores three key questions:

How can labour utilisation be increased by labour market institutions? Which CEE countries managed to create a labour market institutional framework beneficial for labour utilisation? How should the labour market institutions in CEE countries be reformed in order to increase labour utilisation?

The book argues that the legacy of transition reforms and a centrally planned past is still relevant in explaining common patterns among CEE countries and concludes that increasing the stock of skills accumulated by the employed and improving utilisation of these skills seems to be the first-best solution to increase labour utilisation.

The book will be of interest to post-graduate researchers and academics in the fields of labour economics, regional economics, and macroeconomics as well as scholars interested in adopting an institutional analysis approach. Additionally, due to the broader policy implications of the topic, the book will appeal to policymakers and experts interested in labour economics.

This book examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on changing labour markets and accelerating digitalisation of the workplace in Central and Eastern Europe. It provides an innovative and enriching take on the work experience from the pandemic times and discusses the challenges of ongoing changes in labour markets and workplaces in a way that is not covered by the extant literature.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and digitalisation on labour market outcomes is analysed throughout 12 chapters, by 34 labour market experts from various CEE countries. Most chapters are based on empirical methods yet are presented in an easy-to-follow way to make the book also accessible for a non-scientific audience. The volume addresses the three key goals:

to better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the adoption of workplace digitalisation in the selected labour markets in CEE countries and the potential trade-offs facing those who do and do not have access to this benefitto complement the labour market research by incorporating the outputs of changing demand for skillsto contribute new insight into policies and regulations that govern the future of work

The book argues that the recent COVID-19 pandemic　was a sombre reminder of the relevance and necessity of digital technology for a variety of sectors and market activities. It concludes that to downside the risks of vanishing jobs, as well as to minimise the threats and maximise the opportunities of digitalisation in CEE countries, labour market partners need to consider an effective governance tool in terms of inclusive access to the digital environment, re-skilling, and balanced regulations of the more problematic facets of digital work.

The book will be of interest to postgraduate researchers and academics in the fields of labour economics, regional economics, and macroeconomics. Additionally, due to the broader policy implications of the topic, the book will appeal to policymakers and experts interested in labour economics.

The Introduction, Chapters 4 and 12 of this book are freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.