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It is analyzed whether working from home improves or impairs the job satisfaction and the work–life balance and under which conditions.

Blocks of influences on job satisfaction and work–life balance – personal traits, job characteristics, skills and employment properties – are estimated separately and in combination. To select the variables, the least angle regression is applied. The entropy balancing approach is used to determine causal effects. The study investigates whether imbalances are determined by private or job influences, whether firm-specific regulations and the selected control group affect the results and whether it only takes place during leisure time.

No clear effects of remote work on job satisfaction are revealed, but the impact on work–life balance is generally negative. If the imbalance is conditioned by private interests, this is not corroborated in contrast to job conditioned features. Employees working from home are happier than those who want to work at home, job satisfaction is higher and work–life balance is not worse under a strict contractual agreement than under a nonbinding commitment.

A wide range of personality traits, skills, employment properties and job characteristics are incorporated as determinants. The problem of causality is investigated. It is analyzed whether the use of alternative control and treatment groups leads to different results. The empirical investigation is based on new German data with three waves.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of key labor institutions on the occurrence and extent of temporary employment.

In a new departure, this study uses a zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) model given that most establishments are non-users of either fixed-term contracts (FTCs) or temporary agency workers.

This study examines the potential impact of works councils and unions on the use and intensity of use of FTCs and temporary agency work. There is a little indication that these variables are correlated with the use/non-use of either type of temporary work, especially in the case of FTCs. Collective bargaining displays different relationships with their intensity of use: a negative association for sectoral bargaining and FTCs and the converse for firm-level bargaining and agency temps. Of more interest, however, is the covariation between the number of temporary employees and the interaction between works councils and product market volatility. The intensity of use of agency temps (FTCs) is predicted to rise (fall) as volatility increases whenever a works council is present. These disparities require further investigation but most likely reflect differences in function, with agency work being more directed toward the protection of an arguably shrinking core and fixed-term contacts encountering resistance to their increased use as a buffer stock. The two types of temporary employment are seemingly non-complementary, an interpretation that receives support from the study’s further analysis of FTC flow data.

The non-complementarity of the two types of contract is the hallmark of this paper.

The first study to deploy a ZINB model to examine both the occurrence and incidence of temporary work.

This paper is a cross‐national study of the incidence of part‐time work. The purpose of this paper is to investigate to what extent the difference between Germany and The Netherlands can be explained from the demand side of the labour market.

Several motives of employers for the introduction of part‐time jobs are distinguished. Their relevance is tested by means of firm‐level data for the two countries within the framework of a multivariate analysis.

The study finds that, in The Netherlands, part‐time jobs are more widespread than in Germany. The reasons for this difference are diverse: the difference in industrial structure (more manufacturing in Germany, more services in The Netherlands), less working students in Germany, and probably more reluctance on the side of German employers to meet the preferences of their workers.

The paper fills a gap in the literature on part‐time work, especially about the importance of institutions differing between the countries. This evidence may be useful in designing policies to increase the incidence of part‐time work.

After a brief glance at the global labour market after the financial meltdown the paper aims to explain some general mechanisms of short‐time work in Germany. Furthermore it seeks to present an overview of the costs of short‐time work for the establishments with respect to the latest labour market reforms in Germany. In the multivariate analyses with the IAB Establishment Panel the paper aims to identify the determinants of short‐time work and its intensity in Germany. Thus it's goal is to contribute to the discussion of the modified and amended legislative framework for short‐time work.

The microeconometric analysis is based on data from the IAB Establishment Panel, a representative survey of the labour demand in Germany. With data from the survey waves 2008‐2010 the probability of the use of short‐time work with probit regression models and its intensity with truncated regression models are explained.

The manufacturing industry as a German key industry was more affected than other sectors and suffered even harder. Despite the fact that the German labour administration has successfully reduced the bureaucracy of short‐time work, the programme is still rather adopted by bigger establishments. German establishments have utilized their flexibility reserves and complementary short‐time work to protect their core staff during the crisis. There is also some empirical evidence that the establishments tried to avoid brain drains. With the first signs of a recovery of the economy at the beginning of 2010 the establishments benefitted a lot from that strategy as they were instantly able to satisfy increasing demands in their markets again. Empirical evidence is also found that establishments made more intensive use of short‐time work the harder they were suffering from the crisis.

For the first time the latest data from the survey wave 2010 of the IAB Establishment Panel is used and compared with the 2009 survey wave. The structure of the panel questionnaire allows the implementation of some specific questions concerning the use of short‐time work. The IAB Establishment Panel has a sample size of approximately 16,000 cases.

Many British employers are less than enthusiastic about the Government's proposals to abolish the 26 wages councils which set statutory minimum wage rates for 2.5 million employees. In its response to the Department of Employment's Wages Councils: 1988 consultation document, the Institute of Personal Management continues to reject a “blanket” approach of total abolition of all wage's councils. The I.P.M.'s view, first formed in 1982 after a major review of the operation of wages councils, is in line with the recommendation of the House of Commons Employment Committee in 1985 that it is right to review and reform but not abolish wages councils.

In many European countries labor markets became more and more demand oriented. However, the average use of recruiting abroad is still low. From a firm perspective, recruiting abroad comes at substantial costs and risks. The purpose of this paper is to identify mechanisms leading to the use of recruiting from abroad.

Effects are retrieved from simple OLS regressions as well as from demand-sided instrumental variable specifications applied to a large German establishment-level dataset.

The share of foreign workers in the contemporary work force enhances recruiting abroad, which is in line with theoretical considerations that foreigners indicate of successful international assignments. The results also indicate that internationally operating businesses more likely recruit from abroad. Furthermore, the author finds that market forces are relevant for the strategy to recruit abroad. Both, the regional scarcity of labor and a high demand for skilled labor affect the employer’s decision to recruit abroad.

The results indicate that internationally oriented businesses more likely recruit abroad. Furthermore, labor market mechanisms, such as scarcities, are functional and foster the use of foreign labor markets.

This study adds to the literature by providing first empirical evidence on recruiting abroad, which is the use of foreign labor markets.

Many contributions to the educational mismatch literature address the productivity effects of both excess and deficit educational attainments for workers at the individual level. Due to the limited transferability of their results to establishment-level performance, especially when allowing for the possibility of spillover effects from mismatched workers to their well-matched colleagues, from an employer’s point of view, it is highly important to know the net effect of educationally mismatched employees on productivity at the establishment level. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This paper analyses the impact of overeducated and undereducated workers among an establishment’s workforce on its productivity, providing first representative evidence for Germany. Using linked employer-employee data from Germany, the author estimates dynamic panel production functions using a system GMM estimator.

The author finds that undereducated workers among an establishment’s workforce impair its (establishment-level) productivity, implying that an establishment’s HR management should avoid the recruitment of undereducated workers, at least if they follow a short-term personnel policy. The effect for overeducated employees is also negative, albeit small and insignificant.

The consideration of the phenomena of over and undereducation from the employer’s point of view provides further insight into the consequences of educational mismatch.