BARGAINING, SORTING, AND THE GENDER WAGE GAP Card, David; Cardoso, Ana Rute; Kline, Patrick
The Quarterly journal of economics,
05/2016, Letnik:
131, Številka:
2
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There is growing evidence that firm-specific pay premiums are an important source of wage inequality. These premiums will contribute to the gender wage gap if women are less likely to work at ...high-paying firms or if women negotiate (or are offered) worse wage bargains with their employers than men. Using longitudinal data on the hourly wages of Portuguese workers matched with income statement information for firms, we show that the wages of both men and women contain firm-specific premiums that are strongly correlated with simple measures of the potential bargaining surplus at each firm. We then show how the impact of these firm-specific pay differentials on the gender wage gap can be decomposed into a combination of sorting and bargaining effects. We find that women are less likely to work at firms that pay higher premiums to either gender, with sorting effects being most important for low- and middle-skilled workers. We also find that women receive only 90% of the firm-specific pay premiums earned by men. Importantly, we find the same gender gap in the responses of wages to changes in potential surplus over time. Taken together, the combination of sorting and bargaining effects explain about one-fifth of the cross-sectional gender wage gap in Portugal.
Firms and Labor Market Inequality Card, David; Cardoso, Ana Rute; Heining, Joerg ...
Journal of labor economics,
01/2018, Letnik:
36, Številka:
S1
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We synthesize two related literatures on firm-level drivers of wage inequality. Studies of rent sharing that use matched worker-firm data find elasticities of wages with respect to value added per ...worker in the range of 0.05–0.15. Studies of wage determination with worker and firm fixed effects typically find that firm-specific premiums explain 20% of overall wage variation. To interpret these findings, we develop a model of wage setting in which workers have idiosyncratic tastes for different workplaces. Simple versions of this model can rationalize standard fixed effects specifications and also match the typical rent-sharing elasticities in the literature.
To what extent do firms insulate their workers' wages from fluctuations in product markets? Which firm and worker attributes are associated with wage flexibility at the micro level? We first rely on ...Guiso, Pistaferri and Schivardi (2005) to estimate dynamic models of sales and wages, finding that in Portugal, workers' wages respond to permanent shocks on firm performance, as opposed to transitory shocks. We then explore the factors associated with wage flexibility, finding that collective bargaining and minimum wages are associated with higher wage insurance by the firm, while the threat of firm bankruptcy reduces it. Managers receive less protection against permanent shocks than other workers.
How does a typically European bargaining system, with collective bargaining and national minimum wage, coexist with low unemployment and high wage flexibility? A unique data set on workers, firms, ...and collective bargaining contracts in Portugal is used to analyze the determinants of both the contractual wage and the wage cushion (difference between contractual and actual wages). The results indicate that the wage cushion stretches the returns to worker and firm attributes, whereas it shrinks the returns to union power. Therefore, firm‐specific arrangements partly offset collective bargaining, granting firms certain freedom when setting wages. Contractual wages reflect trade unions' egalitarian policy.
We analyze the impact of high youth minimum wages, relying on two decades of linked employer–employee data and a major law change. Alternative treatment/control groups follow from two strands of the ...literature, one tracking low‐skilled workers employed before the law change, who are eligible for a large wage increase, and one tracking the employment of full cohorts, whether working or in school when the law changed. High minimum wages led to a short‐term wage gain, which faded over time. They did not jeopardize employment prospects. Changes in the hours worked by part‐time workers point to increased job attachment.
Este artículo tiene el objetivo de identificar los principales factores que conducen a la deserción escolar en un entorno urbano, en concreto las favelas de Fortaleza, al noreste de Brasil. ...Utilizamos una extensa encuesta centrada en los factores de riesgo a los que se enfrenta la población de estos barrios y dirigida a jóvenes de ambos sexos, tanto escolarizados como no escolarizados. El papel de la paternidad temprana, el trabajo infantil y la pobreza como impulsores de la deserción escolar de los adolescentes es objeto de una particular atención. La endogeneidad potencial de algunos de los factores determinantes se trata en el análisis empírico. Aprovechamos el rico conjunto de variables disponible y aplicamos un método basado en variables instrumentales. Para la paternidad temprana se usa como instrumento la edad declarada por los jóvenes como la edad ideal para empezar a tener relaciones sexuales; para el trabajo se usa como instrumento el salario de reserva declarado (el salario mínimo considerado aceptable para trabajar). Los resultados indican que la paternidad temprana tiene un efecto grande en términos de la no escolarización de los adolescentes. La pobreza extrema es otro factor que disminuye la asistencia a la escuela, ya que los niños que en algún momento de su vida padecen hambre tienen menores probabilidades de asistir al colegio. En este contexto urbano en particular el trabajo no tiene forzosamente un efecto perjudicial en la asistencia al colegio, lo que podría asociarse al hecho de que el abandono escolar lleva con mayor frecuencia a la inactividad y no al trabajo, dada la escasez de oportunidades de empleo; además, las restricciones de liquidez podrían atenuarse para aquellos cuyos ingresos laborales permiten sufragar los gastos escolares. This paper aims to identify the major factors that lead to school abandonment in an urban surrounding, namely, the shantytowns of Fortaleza, northeast Brazil. We use an extensive survey addressing risk factors faced by the population in these neighborhoods, which covered both in-school and out-of-school youth of both genders. The role of early parenthood, child labor, and poverty in pushing teenagers out of school is given particular attention. The potential endogeneity of some of the determinants is dealt with in the empirical analysis. We take advantage of the rich set of variables available and apply an instrumental variables approach. Early parenthood is instrumented with the age declared by the youngsters as the ideal age to start having sexual relations; work is instrumented using the declared reservation wage (minimum salary acceptable to work). Results indicate that early parenthood has a strong impact in driving teenagers out of school. Extreme poverty is another factor lowering school attendance, as children who have suffered hunger at some point in their lives are less likely to attend school. In this particular urban context, working does not necessarily have a detrimental effect on school attendance, something which could be linked to the fact that dropping out of school leads most often to inactivity rather than to work, given the scarcity of job opportunities; also, liquidity constraints may be relaxed for those whose returns from work enable funding school.
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to introduce this special issue on compensation policies within firms while using evidence from linked employer-employee data.Design methodology approach - The ...paper looks at the use of linked employer-employee data over time and how this has enabled progress in the understanding of the functioning of the labour market as the arena where labour supply and demand interact, under the mediation of labour market institutions and regulations.Findings - The example of issues that have been covered using linked employer-employee data, generating new insights, could be extended and it is continuously being updated.Originality value - The articles collected in this special issue provide some fine examples of recent work on the field of linked employer-employee data.
Wage Flexibility under Sectoral Bargaining Card, David; Cardoso, Ana Rute
Journal of the European Economic Association,
10/2022, Letnik:
20, Številka:
5
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Abstract
Sectoral contracts in many European countries set wage floors for different occupation groups. In addition, employers often pay a wage premium (or wage cushion) to individual workers. We use ...administrative data from Portugal, linked to collective bargaining agreements, to study the interactions between wage floors and wage cushions and quantify the impact of sectoral wage floors. Although wages exhibit a “spike” at the wage floor, a typical worker receives a 20% premium over the floor, with larger cushions for older- and better-educated workers and at higher-productivity firms. Cushions also allow wages to covary with firm-specific productivity, even within sectoral agreements. Contract negotiations tend to raise all wage floors proportionally, with increases that reflect average productivity growth among covered firms. As floors rise, however, cushions are compressed, leading to an average passthrough rate of about 50%. Finally, we use a series of counterfactual simulations to show that real wage reductions during the recent financial crisis arose through reductions in real wage floors, reductions in real cushions, and a re-allocation of workers to lower wage floors. Offsetting these effects was a rapid rise in education of new cohorts, which in the absence of other factors would have led to rising real wages.
While several aspects of the Bologna process deserve wide public support, the reduction of the length of the first cycle of studies to three years in several continental European countries, where it ...used to last for four or five years, is less consensual. This paper checks the extent of public confidence in the restructuring of higher education currently underway by looking at its impact on the demand for academic programs in Portugal. We concentrate on students revealed first preference when applying to higher education. Results indicate that the programs that restructured to follow the Bologna principles were subject to higher demand than comparable programs that did not restructure; that effect, however, varies across fields of study and with program size. (JEL codes: I28, I21, F15)
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