Collective Agreements and Equal Opportunities for Women and Disadvantaged Groups

This contribution researches the impact of collective agreements on female management and job opportunities of employees from disadvantaged groups (including migrants or their descendants) in 4053 enterprises in Europe. Graafland finds that collective agreements stimulate female presence in board and executive positions, and the inflow of employees from disadvantaged groups (e.g. migrant workers, people with disabilities, long-term unemployed). Moreover, female management further enforces job opportunities of disadvantaged workers. Countries with high coverage of collective agreements therefore, directly as well as indirectly, through female management, foster integration of employees from disadvantaged groups into the labour market. The results imply that dismantling extensions of collective agreements in the labour market increases gender inequality and inequality between advantaged and disadvantaged groups of employees.