J31 - Wage Level and Structure; Wage DifferentialsReturn

The growing role of institutions and their influence on the labour market outcomes, i.e., wage rates and labour allocation, has been among the most significant characteristic features of labour markets in recent decades. The labour market economics built its paradigm on the principles of marginalism, which brought suitable instruments for the analysis of market agents' individual decisions capable of achieving effective solutions. Smith's "invisible hand" has gradually been limited by institutional interventions - by governments, corporations and trade unions with government legislation, corporate personnel policies and collective bargaining. The expanding regulatory interventions in the labour market and the effort to explain the reality leads inevitably to the fact that the modern labour market economics incorporates more and more institutional theories.
The contribution outlines the gradual invasion of neoinstitutional topics and theories into the neoclassical labour market paradigm and it analyses the differences between the neoclassical and institutional interpretation of labour market functioning. It presents the recent discussion on the consequences for the labour market economic theory and formulates a conclusion about the modified labour market economic paradigm.

Equivalised incomes are frequently used in order to make adjustments to the actual incomes of households in a way that enables analysis of the relative wellbeing of households of different sizes and compositions (numbers of adults, numbers of children and their ages). In the paper, different methods of evaluation of equivalised units (equivalised numbers of members) are discussed and their impact on derived equivalised incomes is shown. Equivalised total annual net incomes of Czech households (in CZK) defined by four scales (numbers of members, OECD-modified scale, OECD scale, square root scale) are analysed for the time period 2007-2010 based on EU-SILC data from the surveys in 2008 to 2011. The incomes are compared with respect to sample distributions and descriptive characteristics of their level and variability; development in time is also of interest. A strong dependence is expected and quantified (from different points of view) among all the equivalised incomes treated (in given years).

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.

Minimum wage remained unchanged for many years. Politicians and even a large part of the business sector could not agree with previously spoken rule that raising the minimum wage has a negative impact on the overall unemployment rate of the country. The article therefore initially concentrated on the development of the minimum wage in the Czech Republic, its comparison with other European Union member states and tries to find the answer by empirical methods whether the raising of the minimum wage in the Czech Republic has a really economic impact on the unemployment in this country.

In recent years, interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) has risen considerably due to stakeholder expectations: "conscientious consumers", institutional investors' interest in Socially Responsible Investment (SRI), the increasing demand for highly qualified employees, the political community's interest in sustainability culminating in various initiatives, discussion among the general public about corporate responsibility. CSR can contribute to the success of a company in many ways; e.g., improve its risk management techniques; reduce the reputation-damage risk; attract and retain qualified employees; generate a beneficial business environment. CSR could be a source of competitive advantage if it generates a unique character of the company or product brand.