Imperfect labour markets. What is it and why are they important? Keynote: Alan Manning

This seminar was filmed during the conference "Modern labour markets Trade unions, social dialogue and productivity" 3 June 2025 in Stockholm, Sweden. As a young researcher Manning realized that so called frictions mean that labour markets seldom function as conventional theory stipulated. If this is the case, it means that employers have the power to set wages below the marginal productivity of the employees. With this point of view, which undoutably has found strong support in the empirical literature of the recent decades, it becomes much easier to understand many of the phenomenon we observe on the labour market on a daily basis. The need for non-plausible, or artificial, explanations shrinks considerably. Frictions on the labour market can be reduced by for example lifelong learning, housing and infrastructure investments. Strengthening the role of trade unions, and other labour-friendly institutions on the labour market, can work as effective countervailing forces against the wage-setting power of employees. If that is the case, the level of competition improves, which stimulates employment and productivity. Alan Manning is a globally leading scholar and a professor of economics at London School of Economics. His book Monopsony in Motion: Imperfect Competition in Labour Markets from 2003, and his subsequent research, have been crucial for the fast emergence of imperfect labour markets as a major research theme. Keynote: Alan Manning, professor of Economics at the London School of Economics. Panel: Alan Manning, Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics. Peter Hellberg, President Unionen. Markus Kallifatides, Swedish Social Democrats Leila Ali Elmi, Labour Market Committee, The Green Party, Swedish Parliament Oliver Rosengren, Labour Market Committee, The Moderate Party, Swedish Parliament Moderator: Daniel Lind, Head of Research, The productivity Commission of The Swedish Unions within Industry.