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21.10.2022, 9.00 - 10.30 (online on Zoom)

Title: Keeping a safe distance? Public sector wage setting and export-led economic growth in Czechia and Slovakia

Authors:

Marta Kahancová (CELSI and Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University Bratislava)

Katarína Staroňová (Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University Bratislava)

Discussants:

Donato Di Carlo, Senior Researcher, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne, Germany

Martin Róbert Hudec, PhD. candidate, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University Bratislava, Slovakia

Monika Martišková, Senior Researcher, CELSI and Charles University Prague, Czechia

Abstract:

Studies on the drivers of public sector wage setting within broader political and economic conditions in Central and Eastern Europe are scarce. To fill this gap, the paper questions to what extent the export-led growth model, based on foreign direct investments as the driver of economic growth, influences public sector wage setting in Czechia and Slovakia since the 2008-2009 crisis. The paper provides new evidence of the appropriateness of the growth model literature, extended by the mode of integration into global production chains, for understanding public sector wage setting in CEE conditions. The analysis shows that public sector wage setting is strongly influenced by institutional traditions and austerity-driven wage moderation in the post-2008 period, and only indirectly related to the countries’ export orientation and integration into global production chains. The indirect growth model impact on public sector wage setting in CEE conditions is channeled through a strong role of the state and legislation in public sector bargaining.