Documents wage structure 196 results

"Using Italian data, this paper investigates the wage implications of temporary jobs across the whole pay profile using unconditional quantile regression (UQR) models. Results clearly indicate that the wage penalty associated to temporary jobs is significantly larger at the bottom of wage profile and is almost absent for high-wage jobs. This is in line with the sticky floors hypothesis, supporting the idea that the wage gap for temporary employees depends on their position in the wage distribution for low-paid jobs. To recover a causal interpretation, I employ an instrumental variable (IV) strategy. I adopt the unconditional instrumental variable quantile treatment effects (IVQTE) estimator proposed by Frolich and Melly, which corrects for endogenous selection in temporary contracts. The IVQTE estimates yield similar results to standard UQR, even if the wage penalty is larger in size at the bottom of the wage distribution and disappears at the top quantiles. This evidence highlights that policies aimed at increasing flexibility may reinforce the two-tier nature of the Italian labour market and the relative wage inequality."

"his paper proposes a semi-parametric procedure to determine the contribution of human capital variables in explaining the changes of U.S. wage distribution function over the period of 1990–2000. The effects of these factors are estimated by using the Chamberlain's two stage Box–Cox quantile regression approach. One of the main contributions of this paper is that it relaxes the linearity assumption of the conditional quantile function to estimate the counterfactual wage distribution function consistently. This paper also shows that the proposed method provides better estimates of capturing the effects of human capital variables in the two tails of the wage distribution while the results of other parts of the distribution are comparable with the estimates of the previous study which used the linear quantile regression approach. To summarize, these results suggest that this proposed approach is more applicable in cases where the behavior of the tails of the distribution bear much importance."

"In a search model with two sided heterogeneity and on-the-job search, we compare collective bargaining agreements (CBA) with a decentralized bargaining outcome case. Under CBA, a union chooses a pay-scale schedule and the firm can select a wage from this pay scale after observing match quality. An advantage of collective bargaining agreements is that search and business-stealing externalities can be internalized. A disadvantage is that it takes more time before an optimal allocation is reached. What the most desirable system is, depends on worker bargaining power (?) and the relative efficiency of on- versus off- the job search. We find both for the Netherlands and the US that as long as ? lies between 0.1 and 0.7, CBA is less desirable."

"This paper uses a sample of male workers to estimate public and private wage structures and the public wage premium for Italy. Results from a model with endogenous sector and schooling suggest that public employees have on average lower unobserved wage potentials in both sectors than private employees, but work in the sector where they benefit from a comparative wage advantage. Schooling is positively correlated with wages in both sectors, and controlling for that is crucial to get more reliable estimates and predictions. The associated average unconditional public wage premium is 12 per cent. The net premium is 9 per cent, but not statistically significant."

"Data from national surveys show the dramatic changes that have taken place in the US wage structure over the past three decades. However, these data provide only very limited information about the complex reasons why those changes have occurred and why there is significant variation in the wages of workers with similar education levels employed in similar industries. Industry case studies, on the other hand, document how firms' responses to economic pressures have affected working conditions, work rules, productivity pressures, skill requirements, and opportunities for training and advancement for workers with less than a 4-year college education. This paper reviews a series of recent case studies on low-wage employment in America funded by the Russell Sage and Rockefeller Foundations, and examines how pressures to cut costs have affected firms' treatment of frontline workers."