OREANDA-NEWS. On February 12, 2009 Eesti Pank hold an open seminar Wage and Price Setting: Survey Evidence. The seminar introduces the results of labour market surveys conducted by the central bank in 2008, reported the press-centre of Eesti Pank.

According to Tairi Room, research supervisor from the Research Department of Eesti Pank, the results of the joint research by EU central banks show that wage setting in Estonia is in many aspects more flexible than elsewhere in the EU. This implies that against the background of the current economic crisis it may be easier for Estonia's enterprises to cope with falling profits compared with other countries that took part in the survey.The seminar is in English and free of charge.

"First of all, a relatively large share of wages in Estonia's enterprises is directly dependent on the efficiency of the employee. The share of such flexible wage components is bigger only in Lithuania. In addition, compared with other countries that participated in the survey, our companies are more willing to use other methods than adjusting the basic wage to optimise labour costs. Here we again occupy the second place after Lithuania," Room said.

"The main difference in the institutional framework of our labour market compared with other EU Member States is that the share of collective wage agreements is smaller. Whereas in euro-area countries 85% of private-sector employees are covered by collective wage agreements, the share is only about 25% in non-euro area countries In Estonia some 9% of private sector employees are covered by collective wage agreements," added Room.

The seminar organised by Eesti Pank introduces the results of three researches: Wage Setting in Estonia vs the EU: Survey Evidence, Wage Rigidity and Alternative Margins of Labor Cost Adjustment and Price, Wage and Employment Response in Shocks: Evidence from the WDN Survey. The surveys were conducted within the framework of the ESCB’s Wage Dynamics Network.

The results of the surveys are introduced by Tairi Room, research supervisor from the Research Department of Eesti Pank, and Aurelijus Dabushinskas, chief specialist from the same department. The seminar is in English and free of charge. The exact schedule of the seminar is available on the web page of Eesti Pank.

The seminar presentations will be published on the web page of Eesti Pank.

Eesti Pank has been organising open seminars since 2000. The aim of the seminars is to support the exchange of ideas between the central bank and both Estonian and foreign academic circles and economic policy institutions.