The performance effects of collective and individual bargaining: A comprehensive and granular analysis of the effects of different bargaining systems on company productivity

Abstract

Using representative company-level data for all Member States of the European Union, the authors analyse the relationship between different processes and institutional structures of collective bargaining and the development of company labour productivity. Their results clearly show that these differences have wide-ranging effects. While some processes and structures of collective bargaining – specifically sectorally uncoordinated systems – appear to be detrimental to company performance, the opposite can be said about sectorally coordinated systems. Thus, what matters are the processes and institutional structures in which collective bargaining is embedded and not whether bargaining should be conducted collectively or individually.