Publication
Title
Stemming the tide : what have European Union countries done to support low-wage workers in an era of downward wage pressures?
Author
Abstract
Governments across the European Union (EU) have been striving to get more people into work while at the same time acknowledging that more needs to be done to make work pay. Yet this drive comes at a time when structural economic shifts are putting pressure on wages, especially of less skilled workers. This article focuses on trends in minimum wages, income taxes and work-related benefits within a selection of 15 EU countries, for the period 20012012, with three US states included as reference cases. We find evidence for eroding relative minimum wages in various EU countries, yet combined with catch-up growth in the new member states. We also find that governments counteracted eroding minimum wages through direct income support measures, especially for lone parents. Most prevalent among these were substantial declines in income tax liabilities.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Journal of European social policy. - Harlow, 1991, currens
Publication
Harlow : 2018
ISSN
0958-9287 [print]
1461-7269 [online]
DOI
10.1177/0958928717704747
Volume/pages
28 :1 (2018) , p. 18-33
ISI
000429870500003
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Law 
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 28.06.2017
Last edited 09.10.2023
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