Jun 5, 2015
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Eastern European Member States experienced a decline in wage inequality over the whole period, while other Member States saw increasing overall inequality levels.
A report from Eurofound reveals that the financial crisis has had a giant impact in the EU on the overall trend of wage inequality: while wage inequality had been decreasing prior to the start of the crisis, it started to rise as the crisis progressed. Between 2004 and 2008, overall wage inequality in the EU diminished. This was due to convergence between European countries, driven by a rapid catching-up by eastern Member States and a stagnation of wages in the two biggest economies – Germany and the UK. After 2008, however, wage inequality increased, mainly as a result of rising inequalities within countries. Only eastern European Member States experienced a decline in wage inequality over the whole period, while other Member States saw increasing overall inequality levels against a background of growing unemployment. In the UK, wage inequality had fallen markedly up to 2008, after which it rose even more sharply up to 2011.
English: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites …
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.