OECD Economic Studies No . 18. Spring 1992 LABOUR MARKETS AND THE TRANSITION IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE Tit0 Boeri and Mark Keese CONTENTS Introduction ..................................................... 134 I . Labour markets under central planning ............................ 134 A . Over - employment and productivity ............................ 135 C . Educational qualifications ................................... 137 D . Wage relativitjes ......................................... 140 A . Labour hoarding .......................................... 145 8 . Industry and occupational structure of employment ............... 135 II . Developments since the beginning of transition ..................... 144 B . Changes in the structure of employment ....................... 147 C . The emergence of open unemployment ........................ 149 111 . Tendencies for the future ...................................... 151 A . The nature and duration of unemployment ..................... 152 B . Labour mobility .......................................... 154 C . Wage developments ...................................... 155 IV . The scope for labour market policies: some final remarks ............. 157 Bibliography .................................................... 162 Tit0 Boeri is an administrator working for the Centre for Co-operation with European Economies in Transition in the Directorate of Education. Employment. Labour and Social Affairs where Mark Keese is also an administrator . The authors would especially like to thank Jorgen Elmeskov. Jeffrey R . Shafer and Hannes Suppanz for their valuable comments and suggestions. and Ricardo Tejada for his unflagging statistical assistance . They would also like to thank Valerie Luccioni for technical assistance . 133