The objectives of workpackage 4 of the AccessLab project were to extend on the literature on labour supply in the candidate countries and to contribute to filling some of the gaps by determining the reasons for regional “lock-in” in candidate countries, providing insights into how different demographic groups are affected by (and react to) these shocks and assessing migration and commuting behaviour in the labour markets in the candidate countries and new member states.

In particular a number of contributions in the workpackage (chapters 1 and 2 as well as chapter 7) are devoted to identifying the impact of labour market institutions and systemic changes on different aspects of labour market performance. Kertesi and Köllö (in chapter 1) focus on the effects of a particularly spectacular case of increases in minimum wages in Hungary. Andren, Earle and Sapatoru (chapter 2) focus on the effects of systemic reforms on the returns to schooling in Romania and Hazans (chapter 7) isolates the effects of changes in labour market policy in the Baltic countries on the labour supply decision.

Furthermore the contributions of Workpackage 4 study the emerging and/or already existent social frontiers in the new member states, by using micro data from different countries and time periods. A central concern in this respect is the role of ethnic minority members in the labour market. Kertesi (in chapter 8) presents a detailed study of the labour market situation of the Roma in Hungary and Smith (in chapters 9 and 4) as well as Hazans (chapter 7) consider the labour market situation of ethnic Russians in terms of wages and employment prospects in the Baltic countries. The analysis of the impacts of policies on different demographic groups, however, is also discussed from a perspective in many of the contributions. Smith (in chapter 3) and Andren Earle and Sapatoru (in chapter 2) highlights the role of increasing returns to education and experience in determining wages, Hazans (in chapter 7) stresses the particular role of the elder in explaining labour supply reductions in the Baltics, while the contributions on commuting and the willingness to migrate by Bartusz (in chapter 5) and Fidrmuc and Huber(in chapter 6) stress the role of gender and education in shaping individual attitudes to mobility in the new member states and candidate countries.

Finally, a number of contributions to workpackage 4 extend on the previous analysis of regional mobility in the new member states and candidate countries provided in workpackage 3. While Huber (in chapter 4) presents a comparison of place to place migration rates and thus extends on the analysis provided in workpackage 3 by Fidrmuc (2003), Bartusz (in chapter 5) analysis the commuting decision of unemployed job finders in Hungary, thus filling an important gap in the literature on labour market adjustment in candidate countries and new member states, and Fidrmuc and Huber (in chapter 6) provide evidence on the individual and regional determinants of the willingness to migrate. Finally, Bruecker and Truebswetter (in chapter 10) shift the focus somewhat by analysing the impact of brain-drain on the East-German labour market after unification, thus providing important insights on the potential effects of such brain drain on the new member states after enlargement.