E24 - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor ProductivityReturn

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between unemployment and economic growth in the European Union and in individual European countries. This allows to determine what the effect on the unemployment rate will be when there is a change in output. The European Union (28 countries) quarterly data used is for the period from 2000Q1 to 2017Q3. Regression analysis, co-integration analysis and a vector error correction model have also been used. The relationship between the unemployment rate and economic growth in the EU-28 for the period examined in this study is less pronounced in comparison with the other countries. A negative relationship between economic growth and a change in the unemployment rate is obtained for all the countries in the European Union (28 countries). During each stage of the period studied, the effect of hysteresis on the labour market grew. The results from the statistical analysis show that the data on economic growth and the change in the rate of unemployment in the EU-28 are co-integrated. The validity of Okun's Law for the economy of the European Union is confirmed although during the period studied the European economy went through several phases of the economic cycle.

The present paper deals with the issue of different behaviour of wage distribution of two highest and two lowest-paid sectors of the Czech economy in the period since the beginning of the global economic crisis; the former ones are the sectors of "Financial and Insurance Activities" and "Information and Communication", the latter ones being those of "Accommodation and Food Service Activities" and "Administrative and Support Service Activities". The aim is to capture the differences between these two groups of sectors, not only in terms of wage levels, but also as far as the variability and concentration of wage distribution is concerned. The gross (nominal) monthly wage in CZK represents a research variable. The paper focuses on different developments of wage distribution of the above sector groups in time, wage level forecasts for 2015 and 2016 being included.

The topic of the relationship between human capital and economic growth has been intensively examined in empirical studies since the 1980s. Although the positive impact of education and human capital on growth has been repeatedly confirmed, there are still doubts about the strength and probable inverse causality of the relationship. The quality of human capital is frequently mentioned in the empirical literature as an important factor which can help to understand and properly determine the link. The quality of human capital is a key focus of this paper. It tests and confirms the hypothesis that the quality is an important factor which significantly influences the intensity of the relationship. The main hypothesis has been tested using the dynamic panel data technique (GMM estimation) on panel data covering 65 countries in 1960-2005. It has been confirmed that the years of schooling have a higher positive impact on economic growth in countries with a higher quality of education.

The minimum wage has been a controversial issue since 1912, when Massachusetts (USA) passed the first state minimum wage act. The Czech Republic has had a statutory national minimum wage since 1990 (Act no. 65/1965 Coll., or the Labour Code; the specific minimum wage levels and the conditions for applying it were then set by a Government Resolution in 1991). The paper deals with some results of empirical research into the effects of the minimum wage on enterprises and employment and compares the statutory minimum wage in the Czech Republic and selected countries.