Collective Pay Agreements in Retailing: Trends and Wage Effects

A survey of the current pricing structure in German retailing shows that the importance of collective contracts has waned considerably. While around three quarters of all employees in commercial trade were bound to a collective pay agreement in 2000, this figure had fallen to just half of all workers by 2010. From an operative perspective, the share of companies bound by collective pay agreements fell from 56% to 31% over the corresponding period. Companies with collective pay agreements differ from companies without such agreements in several ways. They are, on average, larger, older and pay wages that are between 25% and 32% higher.