What explains the pattern of labour supply in Europe?

Call for papers - deadline: Friday 31 January 2003
A CEPR/ECB workshop
Frankfurt am Main, Eurotower, 23-24 June 2003

Labour supply developments have key implications for wages, prices, potential output and economic and social welfare in general. In the short-run the cyclical sensitivity of labour supply can affect labour market tightness, and thereby influence the outlook for wages and prices. In the longer run, labour supply (together with other factors) is a key determinant of potential output.

The aim of the Workshop, to be held in Frankfurt on 23 & 24 June and organised by CEPR and ECB, is to provide a forum within which to discuss recent work on these issues and assess the policy implications.

The workshop organisers are particularly interested in papers addressing at least one of the following themes for European countries:

• Working time:

  How do labour time regulations concerning the length of the working week, overtime, part-time work, early retirement and flexible work hours affect labour supply?
  What are the preliminary findings from the shortening of the working week or other innovations in working time in some European countries?
  
  

• Incentives to work:

  It is frequently argued that in many European countries the combination of state pension benefits, unemployment benefits, and disability benefits reduce the incentives to work and to participate in the labour force.
  What are the effects of such benefits, and also how can they be best designed to provide individuals with the right incentive to enter employment?
  Moreover, such benefits need to be funded via taxes and/or social security contributions.
  What are the preliminary findings from those countries that have most recurred to active labour market measures?
  
  

• New forms of employment relationships:

  This theme encompasses various forms of temporary employment (such as employment agencies, short/fixed-term contracts), new forms of casual employment (such as zero-hours contracts), tele-working and job-sharing.
  What motivates firms and workers to utilise such new forms of employment and what is the impact, thus far, on labour force participation and employment?
  In particular, what factors account for the relatively high proportion of such contracts which are taken up by female employees?
  
  

• Factors affecting labour force participation:

  How have the elements of the previous themes affected the cyclical and structural determinants of participation and its dynamic adjustment (also disaggregated by, for example, age, gender, and education)?
  Which policy measures have strengthened the functioning of labour markets by promoting participation?
  On a related issue: what are the preliminary findings from those countries that have most recurred to active labour market measures to strengthen their job brokering services with the aim to render job matching more efficient?
  Similarly, what are the effects of labour market training, a form of investment in human capital, on upgrading the skills of the unemployed and reducing long-term unemployment?

Papers will be chosen by a Selection Committee consisting of, Per-Anders Edin (Uppsala University and CEPR), Ramón Gómez-Salvador (ECB), Ana Lamo (ECB), Barbara Petrongolo (LSE and CEPR), Melanie Ward-Warmedinger (ECB), and Etienne Wasmer (ECARES and CEPR).

We invite individuals wishing to submit original contributions for consideration to send either a 2-3 page summary, or a draft paper, to us by Friday 31 January 2003. The summary/draft papers should contain information about the question addressed in the paper, the theoretical and policy problems that motivate the question, the method(s), and (if appropriate) data used.

Submissions can be made by e-mail and should possibly be in PDF format to Janet Seabrook at CEPR (by email on JSeabrook@cepr.org or by fax + 44 20 78 78 29 99).
The ECB and CEPR intend to make the chosen papers available on their web-sites around the time of the workshop and issue a volume with the workshop proceedings after the event.
Presenters will be reimbursed for economy travel and accommodation, in accordance with ECB standard guidelines.
Authors of the papers selected for presentation by a Selection Committee will be notified by Monday 31 March 2003. back to top