Low-wage work in high-income countries: labor-market institutions and business strategy in the US and Europe

• Published in: Human relations (New York) Vol. 62; no. 12; pp. 1907 - 1934
• Main Authors: Appelbaum, Eileen, Schmitt, John
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.12.2009
• Subjects: Collective bargaining; Cross-national analysis; Institutions; Labour market; Low income; Review articles
• DOI: 10.1177/0018726709349200
• ISSN: 0018-7267

This article provides an overview of low-wage occupations in five industries (nursing assistants and cleaners in hospitals, cashiers and stock/sales clerks in food and electronics retail trade, process operatives in meat processing and confectionary, housekeepers in hotels, and in-coming sales/service operators in call centers) in six countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and the United States), based on a large-scale, multi-year research project funded and coordinated by the Russell Sage Foundation in New York. Low-wage work varies substantially both across and within countries, with large increases in the 1980s and 1990s in the Netherlands and the UK and, since the mid-1990s, in Germany. The US has the highest incidence of low-wage work, with Germany close behind. Denmark and France have much less low-wage work. Institutions (and their deterioration) play a large role in explaining these and other differences. Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd