For the less qualified in Western Europe, a decrease in employment will be inevitable, because the scope for wage fluctuation is limited by collective agreements and by the minimum-wage levels that the welfare state sets through wage-replacement benefits and legal minimum wages. Wage inflexibility, combined with the substitution effect exerted on the great majority of West European workers implies that eastern enlargement will cause a net loss of jobs in Western Europe, if the labor market remains as inflexible as it now is.