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Works Councils and Workplace Health Promotion in Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen Smith

    (George Washington University)

  • Uwe Jirjahn

    (University of Trier, GLO, and IZA)

  • Jens Mohrenweiser

    (Bournemouth University)

Abstract
From a theoretical viewpoint, there can be market failures resulting in an underprovision of occupational health and safety. Works councils may help mitigate these failures. Using establishment data from Germany, our empirical analysis confirms that the incidence of a works council is significantly associated with an increased likelihood that the establishment provides more workplace health promotion than required by law. This result also holds in a recursive bivariate probit regression accounting for the possible endogeneity of works council incidence. Furthermore, analyzing potentially moderating factors such as collective bargaining coverage, industry, type of ownership, multi-establishment status and product market competition, we find a positive association between works councils and workplace health promotion for the various types of establishments examined. Finally, we go beyond the mere incidence of workplace health promotion and show that works councils are positively associated with a series of different measures of workplace health promotion.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen Smith & Uwe Jirjahn & Jens Mohrenweiser, 2019. "Works Councils and Workplace Health Promotion in Germany," Working Papers 2019-1, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.
    • Handle: RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2019-1
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    File URL: http://www2.gwu.edu/~iiep/assets/docs/papers/2019WP/SmithIIEP2019-1.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

    1. Artz, Benjamin & Heywood, John S., 2020. "Unions, Worker Participation and Worker Well-Being," GLO Discussion Paper Series 705, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Non-union employee representation; works council; codetermination; worker voice; occupational health and safety; workplace health promotion;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
    • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General
    • J81 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Working Conditions

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