Diese Dissertation besteht aus drei Aufsätzen, die zur empirischen Literatur über Beschäftigung und Löhne auf dem deutschen Arbeitsmarkt beitragen. Der erste Aufsatz untersucht die Auswirkungen eines großen und unerwarteten Zustroms von Migranten auf den westdeutschen Arbeitsmarkt zwischen 1988 und 1993 auf die Löhne und Beschäftigung der einheimischen Arbeitnehmer. Die Analyse zeigt, dass ein Anstieg der lokalen Beschäftigung von Migranten die durchschnittlichen Löhne und Beschäftigung kurzfristig reduziert, der Effekt langfristig jedoch verschwindet. Der zweite Aufsatz analysiert den kausalen Effekt einer Lockerung des deutschen Kündigungsschutzgesetzes (KSchG) im Jahr 2004 auf unterschiedliche Arbeitsmarktergebnisse auf Firmenebene. Dazu nutzt der Aufsatz eine Änderung des Schwellenwerts der Mindestbetriebsgröße zur Anwendbarkeit des KSchG von fünf auf zehn Beschäftigte als ein Quasi-Experiment. Die Ergebnisse der empirischen Analyse liefern keine robuste Evidenz für einen Effekt auf die Einstellungs-, Abgangs-, Nettobeschäftigungs- und Churning-Raten sowie auf Löhne und temporäre Beschäftigung. Dagegen gibt es Evidenz, dass die Einstellungs- und Nettobeschäftigungsraten von Frauen zugenommen haben. Der dritte Aufsatz untersucht die Entwicklung der MINT-Beschäftigung und -Löhne in Westdeutschland zwischen 1980 und 2010. Die Analyse deutet auf einen Anstieg der MINT-Beschäftigung und -Löhne, der zeitlich mit dem Anstieg der Lohnungleichheit zusammenfällt. Darüber hinaus zeigt der Aufsatz, dass die Zunahme des Lohnunterschieds zwischen MINT und nicht-MINT Arbeitern durch Angebots- und Nachfragefaktoren im Rahmen eines MINT-verzerrten technologischen Wandels auf Basis einer CES-Produktionsfunktion erklärbar ist. Zuletzt deutet eine alternative Analyse der MINT-Prämie unter Nutzung von Schätzwerten aus einem Modell mit additiven Arbeiter- und Firmeneffekten darauf hin, dass der durch Firmeneffekte erklärte Anteil der MINT-Prämie mit der Zeit bedeutend zugenommen hat. / This thesis consists of three essays that contribute to the empirical literature on employment and wages in the German labor market. The first essay investigates the impact of a large and unexpected inflow of immigrants into the West German labor market between 1988 and 1993 on native wages and employment. The analysis indicates that an increase in local immigrant employment reduces average native wages and employment in the short run; however, the effect tends to vanish in the longer term. The second essay analyzes the causal effect of a relaxation of the German Protection Against Dismissal Act (PADA) in 2004 on different labor market outcomes at the firm level. Specifically, the essay exploits a change of the minimum establishment size threshold determining coverage by the PADA from five to ten employees as a quasi-experiment. The results from the empirical analysis do not provide robust evidence for an effect on overall hiring, separation, job flow, and churning rates as well as wages and temporary employment. However, there is some evidence of increases in the hiring and job flow rates of women. The third essay studies trends in STEM employment and wages in West Germany between 1980 and 2010. The analysis indicates an increase in STEM employment and wages that coincides with the rise in wage inequality during the same period. Moreover, the essay shows that the increase in the wage differential between STEM and non-STEM workers can be explained by supply and demand factors under a STEM-biased technological change within a CES production framework. Finally, an alternative assessment of the STEM premium exploits estimates from a model with additive worker and firm fixed effects and suggests that the fraction of the STEM premium that is explained by firm effects has increased considerably over time.

The current South African legislative framework does not properly address the unequal bargaining position between employers and fixed term employees. Ineffective regulation of fixed term employment in South Africa has had the effect of excluding certain groups of fixed term employees from claiming the remedies provided in terms of the Labour Relations Act and other labour legislation. Furthermore, where remedies are applicable to them they are often ineffectual. Interpretational variation evident from case law pertaining to the enforcement of the rights of fixed term employees, indicate clear lacunae in the unfair dismissal protection afforded to these vulnerable employees. This is mainly a consequence of uncertainties related to the interpretation of the legislative provisions. The infusion of the values entrenched in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the development of the common law to reflect these values might augment the scope and availability of rights enjoyed by fixed term employees. But, changing socio-economic and political circumstances necessitates review and amendment of the legislation applicable to fixed term employees to meet the country’s constitutional and international obligations. Proposed amendments to the Labour Relations Act have been tabled. These amendments may be capable of addressing some of the current problems. However, they may also lead to other undesirable consequences. An investigation into problems related to the application of similar provisions as those proposed by the Labour Relations Amendment Bill in other jurisdictions crystallises some possible causes for concern. Some of the proposed changes could create new vulnerabilities, or renew old ones. / Private Law / LLD

The current South African legislative framework does not properly address the unequal bargaining position between employers and fixed term employees. Ineffective regulation of fixed term employment in South Africa has had the effect of excluding certain groups of fixed term employees from claiming the remedies provided in terms of the Labour Relations Act and other labour legislation. Furthermore, where remedies are applicable to them they are often ineffectual. Interpretational variation evident from case law pertaining to the enforcement of the rights of fixed term employees, indicate clear lacunae in the unfair dismissal protection afforded to these vulnerable employees. This is mainly a consequence of uncertainties related to the interpretation of the legislative provisions. The infusion of the values entrenched in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the development of the common law to reflect these values might augment the scope and availability of rights enjoyed by fixed term employees. But, changing socio-economic and political circumstances necessitates review and amendment of the legislation applicable to fixed term employees to meet the country’s constitutional and international obligations. Proposed amendments to the Labour Relations Act have been tabled. These amendments may be capable of addressing some of the current problems. However, they may also lead to other undesirable consequences. An investigation into problems related to the application of similar provisions as those proposed by the Labour Relations Amendment Bill in other jurisdictions crystallises some possible causes for concern. Some of the proposed changes could create new vulnerabilities, or renew old ones. / Private Law / LL. D.

Several interesting findings emerged from this study. First, strong labour movements still failed to successfully bargain for employment protections due to resistance from employers to encroachments on their institutionalized managerial prerogatives. Second, governments favoured a policy of abstentionism and acquiescence to the collective-laissez-faire tradition until the critical juncture of the 1960s and 1970s. Third, the increasing power resources of trade unions and a deteriorating socio-economic climate created a window of opportunity for bold government action to improve industrial relations, albeit without the consent of employers, and at first, unions. Fourth, contrary to the liberalizing pressures one would expect to find in an archetypical free market economy, the UK has implemented far more statutory protections than deregulatory reforms. Fifth, in contrast to its traditional non-intervention in industrial relations and reputation for worker-protective regulations, Swedish governments have enacted numerous statutes, both restricting and freeing managerial prerogatives in the hiring and firing process. Sixth, statutory employment protections became an independent set of institutional power resources for unions in the long run, serving their organizational and representational interests in important ways. Seventh, unions and left parties consistently defended and advanced the policy preferences of their core constituencies in secure employment by privileging the job security of regular contracts. Eighth, employers and parties on the right of the political spectrum consistently opposed restrictions on the managerial capacity to hire and fire at will, especially for small businesses. Nineth, to increase flexibility without threatening the stability of regular contracts, reforms over the years had to foster atypical forms of work, creating a regulatory gap between permanent and temporary employment, particularly in Sweden. Tenth, differences exist between job security in the statute books and job security in action, particularly in the UK where this gap pervades all aspects of the unfair dismissal system. These findings suggest employment protection legislation has developed in ways far more complex, dynamic and contradictory than is commonly assumed by prominent theories of comparative political economy. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis examines how and why employment protection legislation developed in the United Kingdom and Sweden in the ways that it did from its early beginnings to the present period. It hopes to offer answers to questions about the initial impetus for statutory regulation, the number, content and impact of significant legislative changes and the preferences of key stakeholders with material interests in the policymaking process. It does this by drawing on a variety of both primary and secondary source materials, including employment protection databases, parliamentary records and research publications. At the same time, it assesses the explanatory merit of dominant theories in the political economy literature by testing them against voluminous empirical evidence and provides a multi-factorial account to fill the gaps in the existing body of knowledge.