Services and employment : explaining the U.S.-European gap / edited by Mary Gregory, Wiemer Salverda, and Ronald Schettkat.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Gregory, Mary (Mary B.), editor.

Salverda, Wiemer, editor.

Schettkat, Ronald, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Service industries--United States.

Service industries.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 251 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2007]

Summary:

Why is Europe's employment rate almost 10 percent lower than that of the United States? This "jobs gap" has typically been blamed on the rigidity of European labor markets. But in Services and Employment, an international group of leading labor economists suggests quite a different explanation. Drawing on the findings of a two-year research project that examined data from France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States, these economists argue that Europe's 25 million "missing" jobs can be attributed almost entirely to its relative lack of service jobs. The jobs gap is actually a services gap. But, Services and Employment asks, why does the United States consume services at such a greater rate than Europe? Services and Employment is the first systematic and comprehensive international comparison on the subject. Mary Gregory, Wiemer Salverda, Ronald Schettkat, and their fellow contributors consider the possible role played by differences in how certain services--particularly health care and education--are provided in Europe and the United States. They examine arguments that Americans consume more services because of their higher incomes and that American households outsource more domestic work. The contributors also ask whether differences between U.S. and European service sectors encapsulate fundamental trans-Atlantic differences in lifestyle choices. In addition to the editors, the contributors include Victor Fuchs, William Baumol, Giovanni Russo, Adriaan Kalwij, Stephen Machin, Andrew Glyn, Joachin Möller, John Schmitt, Michel Sollogoub, Robert Gordon, and Richard Freeman.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Contributors

Introduction

CHAPTER 1 The U.S.-European Gap in Service Employment and Demand: The Research Agenda

CHAPTER 2 Reflections on the Rise of Service Sector Employment

CHAPTER 3 On Mechanisms Underlying the Growing Share of Service Employment in the Industrialized Economies

CHAPTER 4 Do Demand Differences Cause the U.S.-European Employment Gap?

CHAPTER 5 Comparative Service Consumption in Six Countries

CHAPTER 6 Employment Differences in Distribution: Wages, Productivity, and Demand

CHAPTER 7 Why Was Europe Left at the Station When America's Productivity Locomotive Departed?

CHAPTER 8 Can Marketization of Household Production Explain the Jobs Gap Puzzle?

CHAPTER 9 Service Included? Services and the U.S.-European Employment Gap

Bibliography

DEMPATEM Working Papers

Index

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780691225630

069122563X

OCLC:

1273307621