1st Edition
Decentralised Pay Setting A Study of the Outcomes of Collective Bargaining Reform in the Civil Service in Australia, Sweden and the UK
IThis title was first published in 2003. In the early 1990s, Australia, Sweden and the UK dismantled the old centralised pay setting systems which set the pay of civil servants and adopted decentralised pay systems. Consequently, these systems are now being considered by many other European countries as they look to reform their own systems. Bender and Elliott analyse the outcomes of these pioneering reforms in all three countries and, in doing so, provide the most detailed analysis of the pay of civil servants in these three countries to date. The authors further assess the effect that decentralisation had on the inequality of pay both within and between different departments, agencies and ministries. They identify the differences in the rates of pay growth for the different grades of civil servants that lie behind the changes in pay inequality, and assess whether decentralisation changed the way in which civil servants are paid.
Biography
K. A. Bender is Assistant Professor within the Department of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA. R. F. Elliott is a Professor in the Department of Economics and Director of the Health Economics Research Unit, both at the University of Aberdeen, UK
'During the 1980s and 1990s very substantial institutional reform occurred in public sector labour markets in many countries - But thus far there has been very little in the way of detailed and rigorous analysis of that reform such as is undertaken in this work...The book is written in an engaging style, and it will be accessible to audiences from a wide variety of discipline areas. There is no doubt that this is now a core reference for anyone seeking to understand the operation of public sector labour markets.' Professor Jeff Borland, University of Melbourne, Australia '... In their brilliant analysis of this process Bender and Elliott set out how the institutions of central government pay setting in Australia, Sweden and the UK have altered and how this has influenced private-public pay structures, gender pay differentials and links between individuals' pay and performance .... Essential reading for all those who want to get to grips with what has happened to and inside the public sector in recent years.' Professor David Metcalf, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK ’...a rich source of information to researchers...an excellent example of methodological rigour...’ Industrial Relations Journal '...a useful contribution to the discussion of pay setting mechanisms...thought provoking...' International Employment Relations Review
