Social convergence of the Baltic states within the enlarged EU: Is limited social dialogue an impediment?

Masso, Jaan; Soloviov, Vladyslav; Espenberg, Kerly; Mieriņa, Inta

doi:10.4337/9781788978071.00007

Cited by 2 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 39 publications

(61 reference statements)

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“…We extend the set of empirical evidence available on the role of firmlevel factors in the gender wage gap using Estonian data-focusing on a case with an institutional environment with low minimum wages and essentially very limited role of unions in wage setting and a wide wage distribution (see e.g. Masso et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Firms in the Gender Wage Gap

2020

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Recent research suggests that firm-level factors play a significant role in the gender wage gap. This paper adds to this literature by analysing the role of sorting between firms and bargaining within firms using the methodology of Card et al. (2016). We employ linked employer-employee data for the whole population of firms and employees from Estonia for 2006-2017. Estonia is a country with the highest gender wage gap in the EU with about two-thirds of that unexplained by conventional factors. The results show that firm-level factors are important determinants of the gender wage gap, explaining as much as 35% of the gap. We find that within-firm bargaining plays a larger role in the gender wage gap than similar prior papers. This could be related to lenient labour market institutions, as reflected in low minimum wages and union power, and to lower bargaining skills of women. Further, the role of firm-level factors in the gender wage gap have increased over time, and these are especially important at the top of the wage distribution and among workers that are more skilled. There is a heavy penalty for motherhood in wages, 4-9 log points, but this is not related to firm-specific time-invariant productivity premiums.JEL Classification: J31, J71, J16, D22

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Firms in the Gender Wage Gap

2020

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“…Estonia has also been at the forefront of introducing the relevant legislation: in 2017 the parliament passed the Public Transport Act (also known as the Uber Act), relaxing the rules on providing transportation services. Minimum standards were implemented for providers of 'transportation by agreement' services and related electronic systems (Masso et al 2019b). This legislation did not solve the issue of the social protection of sharing-economy employees, but arguably the latter is not necessarily acute since most people provide these services as a side job.…”

Section: Emergence Of New Forms Of Work In the Baltic Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This legislation did not solve the issue of the social protection of sharing-economy employees, but arguably the latter is not necessarily acute since most people provide these services as a side job. In future, however, these issues are likely to become more topical, although some developments, such as opening business accounts in 2018 (unions participating in active social dialogue) might be of some help (Masso et al 2019b). Also, some Estonian platforms, such as Bolt, have successfully expanded internationally, where they are also having effects on host country labour markets.…”

Section: Emergence Of New Forms Of Work In the Baltic Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, other platforms do not operate this way and platform workers themselves have to register as self-employed or private limited liability companies, and pay labour taxes themselves to get social security coverage. Since January 2019 one possibility for declaring income and getting social security coverage has been to use an entrepreneur account (ettevõtluskonto -see also Masso et al 2019b) that the Tax and Customs Board offers as an appropriate solution for new forms of entrepreneurship, such as ride-sharing service platforms. 4 An entrepreneuraccount owner has the right to receive health insurance benefits if social tax in a calendar month is at least the minimum social tax requirement (in 2019 this was €165 per month).…”

Section: Industrial Relations and Social Security Issues Related To P...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Estonian sharing economy sector was covered in Masso et al (2019b) but this case study further develops the issue, focusing on a specific part of the sharing economy, crowd work platforms. The case study is based mainly on document analysis, including recent studies and interviews with representatives of the Estonian Sharing Economy Union from GoWorkaBit, Uber in the Baltic states and the Work and Pension Policy Department of the Ministry of Social Affairs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social dialogue and the new world of work: The case of the Baltic state

Masso¹

2021

The New World of Work

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In the second half of the 2010s, the labour markets in the Baltic countries, as in many other central and eastern European countries, were fairly tight (see Table 17.1). Unemployment rates recovered from the Great Recession and by 2019 had fallen to comparatively low levels, with 6.4 per cent in Lithuania, 6.3 per cent Latvia and 5.4 per cent in Estonia (in 2018) (Eurostat 2021b). The employment rate increased during the 2010s and the working-age population decreased. The main reason for the increase in the employment rate was the demand for labour owing to the growth of economic activity in general: GDP increased by almost one-third between 2010 and 2019. Rapid wage increases brought more people into the labour market, as did social security retrenchment, with changes in the rules on ability to work and increases in the pension age in Estonia. In Estonia in the second half of the 2010s rising employment was caused by the increase in youth employment, whereas previously it was because of rising employment among the older population. The share of students who work regularly increased from 40 per cent to 53 per cent between 2012 and 2017 (Haaristo et al. 2017). Similarly, in Latvia the employment rate reached a historical high: 65 per cent of the population aged 15-74 years were employed in the third quarter of 2018. The economic activity rate also reached its highest level, at 70.2 per cent (Ekonomikas Ministrija 2019). An important consequence of rising employment rates, despite the decreasing working-age population and unemployment, is that the potential for attracting labour from the economically inactive population is almost exhausted. Continued economic growth in combination with unsatisfactory demographic

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Social convergence of the Baltic states within the enlarged EU: Is limited social dialogue an impediment?

Cited by 2 publications

References 39 publications

The Role of Firms in the Gender Wage Gap

The Role of Firms in the Gender Wage Gap

Social dialogue and the new world of work: The case of the Baltic state

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