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Professor Dr Claus Schnabel

Professor Dr Claus Schnabel
Current Position

since 3/15

Research Professor

Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) – Member of the Leibniz Association

since 4/00

Professor of Economics

Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

Research Interests
  • labour economics
  • labour relations
  • economic policy

Claus Schnabel joined the institute as a Research Professor in March 2015. His research focuses on empirical labour economics, industrial relations, and economic policy.

Claus Schnabel holds the position of Professor of Economics at Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg.

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Professor Dr Claus Schnabel
Professor Dr Claus Schnabel
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Publications

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Uncovered Workers in Plants Covered by Collective Bargaining: Who Are They and How Do They Fare?

Boris Hirsch Philipp Lentge Claus Schnabel

in: British Journal of Industrial Relations, No. 4, 2022

Abstract

Abstract In Germany, employers used to pay union members and non-members in a plant the same union wage in order to prevent workers from joining unions. Using recent administrative data, we investigate which workers in firms covered by collective bargaining agreements still individually benefit from these union agreements, which workers are not covered anymore and what this means for their wages. We show that about 9 per cent of workers in plants with collective agreements do not enjoy individual coverage (and thus the union wage) anymore. Econometric analyses with unconditional quantile regressions and firm-fixed-effects estimations demonstrate that not being individually covered by a collective agreement has serious wage implications for most workers. Low-wage non-union workers and those at low hierarchy levels particularly suffer since employers abstain from extending union wages to them in order to pay lower wages. This jeopardizes unions' goal of protecting all disadvantaged workers.

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Does Working at a Start-up Pay Off?

Daniel Fackler Lisa Hölscher Claus Schnabel Antje Weyh

in: Small Business Economics, No. 4, 2022

Abstract

Using representative linked employer-employee data for Germany, this paper analyzes short- and long-run differences in labor market performance of workers joining start-ups instead of incumbent firms. Applying entropy balancing and following individuals over ten years, we find huge and long-lasting drawbacks from entering a start-up in terms of wages, yearly income, and (un)employment. These disadvantages hold for all groups of workers and types of start-ups analyzed. Although our analysis of different subsequent career paths highlights important heterogeneities, it does not reveal any strategy through which workers joining start-ups can catch up with the income of similar workers entering incumbent firms.

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Do Start-ups Provide Employment Opportunities for Disadvantaged Workers?

Daniel Fackler Michaela Fuchs Lisa Hölscher Claus Schnabel

in: ILR Review, No. 5, 2019

Abstract

This article compares the hiring patterns of start-ups and incumbent firms to analyze whether start-ups offer relatively more job opportunities to disadvantaged workers. Using administrative linked employer–employee data for Germany that provide the complete employment biographies of newly hired workers, the authors show that young firms are more likely than incumbents to hire applicants who are older, foreign, or unemployed, or who have unstable employment histories, arrive from outside the labor force, or were affected by a plant closure. Analysis of entry wages shows that penalties for these disadvantaged workers, however, are higher in start-ups than in incumbent firms. Therefore, even if start-ups provide employment opportunities for certain groups of disadvantaged workers, the quality of these jobs in terms of initial remuneration appears to be low.

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