Per Skedinger to study minimum wages for the European Commission

30 August 2019

Per Skedinger, IFN and Associate Professor at Linnaeus University, School of Business and Economics, in Växjö, has been appointed by the European Commission and its program for Employment and Social Innovation ,EaSI, to conduct a case study on collectively agreed minimum wages in the Nordic countries. The objective of the study is to discuss the effects on wage structure and employment. The study will be comparing the Nordic countries to countries with a statutory national minimum wage. The study will also be examining whether, and how, collectively agreed minimum wages could reduce in-work poverty, i. e poverty despite full-time employment.

Minimum wage is a hot topic within the EU. The President-elect of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced in her Political Guidelines for the next Commission that she will propose a legal instrument to ensure that every worker in the EU has a fair minimum wage.

Per Skedinger has been studying the effects of minimum wages on the labor market for a long time. He has also been studying the impact of the Swedish Employment Protection Act. One of the questions that Per Skedinger is trying to answer with his research is: What are the effects from collectively agreed minimum wages on employment and wage dynamics among marginal groups such as young people and refugees?
Per Skedinger is also an expert in a government committee that will be making suggestions on how to modernize Swedish legislation and employment protection.

The European Program for Employment and Social Innovation ,EaSI, is managed directly by the European Commission. Among other things, it produces databases and studies. It aims to provide financial support for the Union's objectives in terms of promoting a high level of quality and sustainable employment. It is also to offer decent social protection, combat social exclusion and poverty, and to improve working conditions.

Published August 30