Wage, labour market and globalisation: from Cold War to European Union – focus on Central and Eastern Europe.
Globalisation is not the only factor in the evolution of contemporary economies, but it brings in its train other economic components such as innovation, capital formation or qualification of the workforce. It has effects on production, trade flows and market structure but also on prices, costs and incomes. In this context, wage is a very current topic. Wages have at least two main dimensions: a statistical and quantifiable one, the average annual salary, and the other one more social and psychological, the socio-cultural perception of salaries.
Since the 1980s, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe have seen a complete renewal of their labour market conditions. Supply and demand of employment and the general progression of wages evolve very quickly. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the communist regimes, accelerated liberalization has been implemented in most states. Social precariousness is worsening, the demand for skills is changing, and migratory movements assume real importance.
At the same time, in the other part of the (former) communist bloc, China’s choices seem quite clearly opposed: maintaining an authoritarian state, privatizing the economy around a powerful public sector, developing an industrial assembly strategy and massive exports.
The conference aims to establish a kind of inventory of the past forty years for the labour market in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe to cover: the initial situation (centrally planned wage strategy, mono-syndicalism), the succession of reforms (political and economic liberalization, privatizations, accession to the EU) and the current results (differential wage increases, employment situation, labour disputes, role of skills, union action).
The conference is open to academics, students and practitioners working in the field of wage and labour market. Scholars and practitioners are encouraged to submit papers on topics related to Central and Eastern Europe such as: Wage, labour market and globalisation, Wage and employment, Wage and social change, Wage and development, Wage policies and institutional practices, Data sources and their use in the study of wage etc.