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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Heinze, Anja; Wolf, Elke |
| Abstract: | Most existing analyses on the gender wage gap (GWG) have neglected the establishment as a place where inequality between male and female employees arises and is maintained. The use of linked employee-employer data permits us to move beyond the individual and consider the importance of the workplace to explain gender pay differentials. That is, we first provide a comprehensive study on the effects of various firm characteristics and the institutional framework on the GWG in Germany. The innovation of our research is that we do not just compare average male and female wages (of specific groups of employees), but look at within-firm gender wage differentials. Our results indicate that the mean GWG within firms is smaller than the average overall GWG. Furthermore, we can show that firms with formalized co-determination (works council) and those covered by collective wage agreements are more likely to have smaller GWG. It is also interesting to note that the wage differential between men and women decreases with firm size and increases with the wage level. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, unions, works councils, discrimination, within-firms wage differentials |
| JEL: | J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:4599&r=lab |
| By: | Gernandt, Johannes; Pfeiffer, Friedhelm |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the evolution of wages and the recent tendency to rising wage inequality in Germany, based on the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) for 1984 to 2004. Between 1984 and 1994 the wage distribution was fairly stable. Wage inequality started to increase around 1994 in Germany for all workers and for prime age dependent male workers as well. Rising inequality is not the result of the recent rise in self-employment. In West Germany rising inequality occurred in the lower part of the wage distribution, in East Germany in the upper part of the wage distribution. While residual wage inequality accounted for two-thirds of rising wage inequality in West Germany, in East Germany price effects dominated. In West Germany the group of workers with low tenure experienced higher inequality. |
| Keywords: | Education, tenure, skill composition, wage inequality, wage rigidity |
| JEL: | J21 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:4598&r=lab |
| By: | Kohn, Karsten |
| Abstract: | Using register data from the IAB employment sample, this paper studies the wage structure in the German labor market throughout the years 1992{2001. Wage dispersion has generally been rising. The increase was more pronounced in East Germany and occurred predominantly in the lower part of the wage distribution for women and in the upper part for men. Censored quantile wage regressions reveal diverse age and skill patterns. Applying Machado/Mata (2005)-type decompositions I conclude that differences in the composition of the work force only had a small impact on the observed wage differentials between East and West Germany, but changes in the characteristics captured better parts of the observed wage changes over time. |
| Keywords: | Wage inequality, censored quantile regression, Machado/Mata decomposition, IABS, East Germany, West Germany |
| JEL: | C24 J31 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:4615&r=lab |
| By: | Julie L. Hotchkiss; M. Melinda Pitts |
| Abstract: | Using the Health and Retirement Survey and standard wage decomposition techniques, this paper finds that the difference in intermittent labor force participation between men and women accounts for 47 percent of the contribution to the wage gap of differences in observed characteristics. Not controlling for intermittent behavior results in too much importance being placed on gender differences in job characteristics. |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedawp:2007-01&r=lab |
| By: | Ronny Freier (Stockholm School of Economics); Viktor Steiner (Free University Berlin, DIW Berlin and IZA) |
| Abstract: | We develop a structural multi-factor labour demand model which distinguishes between eight labour categories including non-standard types of employment such as marginal employment. The model is estimated for both the number of workers and total working hours using a new panel data set. For unskilled and skilled workers in full-time employment, we find labour demand elasticities similar to previous estimates for the west German economy. Our new estimates of own-wage elasticities for marginal employment range between -.4 (number of male workers in west Germany) to -1 (working hours for women). We illustrate the implications of these estimates by simulating the likely labour demand effects of the recent increase of employers’ social security contributions (SSC) on marginal employment in Germany. |
| Keywords: | multi-factor labour demand for heterogenous labour, marginal employment |
| JEL: | J21 J23 C51 |
| Date: | 2007–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2577&r=lab |
| By: | David Neumark (University of California, Irvine, Public Policy Institute of California, NBER and IZA); William Wascher (Federal Reserve Board) |
| Abstract: | We review the burgeoning literature on the employment effects of minimum wages - in the United States and other countries - that was spurred by the new minimum wage research beginning in the early 1990s. Our review indicates that there is a wide range of existing estimates and, accordingly, a lack of consensus about the overall effects on low-wage employment of an increase in the minimum wage. However, the oft-stated assertion that recent research fails to support the traditional view that the minimum wage reduces the employment of low-wage workers is clearly incorrect. A sizable majority of the studies surveyed in this monograph give a relatively consistent (although not always statistically significant) indication of negative employment effects of minimum wages. In addition, among the papers we view as providing the most credible evidence, almost all point to negative employment effects, both for the United States as well as for many other countries. Two other important conclusions emerge from our review. First, we see very few - if any - studies that provide convincing evidence of positive employment effects of minimum wages, especially from those studies that focus on the broader groups (rather than a narrow industry) for which the competitive model predicts disemployment effects. Second, the studies that focus on the least-skilled groups provide relatively overwhelming evidence of stronger disemployment effects for these groups. |
| Keywords: | minimum wage, employment |
| JEL: | J23 J38 |
| Date: | 2007–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2570&r=lab |
| By: | Kuckulenz, Anja |
| Abstract: | Wage and productivity effects of training are compared to study how the training rent is shared between employers and employees. With panel data from 1996-2002, I analyse the impact of continuing training on wages and productivity in a Cobb-Douglas production framework. Using system GMM techniques allows me to account for endogeneity and time invariant unobserved factors. Results suggest that the training rent is shared between employer and employee due to a positive effect of continuing training on both wages and productivity. The effect on productivity is about three times higher than the one on wages. High skilled workers capture a larger share of the rent than low skilled workers. |
| Keywords: | continuing vocational training, system GMM estimation, wage effect, productivity effect, external effect |
| JEL: | C21 C23 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:4609&r=lab |
| By: | Séverine Lemière (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne et Université Paris 5-IUT de Paris); Céline Marc (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with job quality in terms of job statuses, working time, working hours arrangements (flexible hours, week-end work, evening work, night work). We realise a cluster analysis of workers with these 3 dimensions of job quality from the French labour survey Enquête Emploi and we compare this analysis between 1993 and 2002. In the first time, results show a segmentation of the labour market in various categories, into different clusters far from a simplistic vision "good jobs" versus "bad jobs". Differences between men and women are very important in our findings. In the second time, a comparison between 1993 and 2002 focuses on two issues. On the one hand, the relations between job statuses, working time, and working hours arrangements persist. On the other hand, we highlight the growth of work flexibility and the deterioration of job quality. Women are particularly affected by the deterioration and mainly about types of hours. |
| Keywords: | Job quality, job statuses, working time, working hours arrangements, gender inequality. |
| JEL: | J2 J38 I3 |
| Date: | 2006–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:wpsorb:r06074&r=lab |
| By: | Heyman, Fredrik (The Research Institute of Industrial Research); Sjöholm, Fredrik (European Institute of Japanese Studies); Gustavsson Tingvall, Patrik (European Institute of Japanese Studies) |
| Abstract: | Numerous studies on firm-level data have reported higher average wages in foreign-owned firms than in domestically-owned firms. This, however, does not necessarily imply that the individual worker’s wage increase with foreign ownership. Using detailed matched employer-employee data on the entire Swedish private sector, we examine the effect of foreign ownership on individual wages, controlling for individual and firm heterogeneity as well as for possible selection bias in foreign acquisitions. We distinguish between foreign greenfields and takeovers and compare foreign owned firms with both domestic multinationals and local firms. Our results show a considerably smaller wage premium in foreign owned firms than what has been found in studies conducted at a more aggregate level. Moreover, foreign takeovers of Swedish firms tend to have no or even a negative effect on wages. |
| Keywords: | FDI; Foreign ownership; Wages; Matched Employer-Employee data; Propensity score matching |
| JEL: | C23 F23 J31 |
| Date: | 2006–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:eijswp:0230&r=lab |