Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuernberg, and IZA, Germany
IZA World of Labor role
Author
Current position
Professor of Economics at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
Research interest
Empirical labor economics, wages, trade unions, and industrial relations
Website
Qualifications
Habilitation, Ruhr University Bochum, 1997
Selected publications
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“Wage bargaining or wage posting? Evidence from the employer’s side.” Labour Economics 29 (2014): 41–48 (with H. Brenzel and H. Gartner).
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“Flexible forms of employment: Boon and bane." The Economic Journal 122 (2012): F115–F124 (with E. J. Jahn and R. T. Riphahn).
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"Differences in labor supply to monopsonistic firms and the gender pay gap: An empirical analysis using linked employer-employee data from Germany." Journal of Labor Economics 28 (2010): 291–330 (with B. Hirsch and T. Schank).
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"Do exporters really pay higher wages? First evidence from linked employer-employee data." Journal of International Economics 72 (2007): 52–74 (with T. Schank and J. Wagner).
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International Handbook of Trade Unions. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2003 (with J. T. Addison).
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Low-wage employment
Are low-paid jobs stepping stones to higher paid jobs, do they become persistent, or do they lead to recurring unemployment?
Claus Schnabel, July 2016Low-wage employment has become an important feature of the labor market and a controversial topic for debate in many countries. How to interpret the prominence of low-paid jobs and whether they are beneficial to workers or society is currently an open question. The answer depends on whether low-paid jobs are largely transitory and serve as stepping stones to higher-paid employment, whether they become persistent, or whether they result in repeated unemployment. The empirical evidence is mixed, pointing to both stepping-stone effects and “scarring” effects (i.e. long-lasting detrimental effects) of low-paid work.MoreLess