Revisiting the German wage structure.

Autor/inn/en	Dustmann, Christian; Ludsteck, Johannes; Schönberg, Uta
Institution	Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit
Titel	Revisiting the German wage structure. Gefälligkeitsübersetzung: Eine Neubetrachtung der deutschen Lohnstruktur.
Quelle	Bonn: IZA (2007), 45, 23 S. PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (1); PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (2) Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Reihe	IZA discussion paper. 2685
Beigaben	grafische Darstellungen
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; Monographie; Graue Literatur
Schlagwörter	Determinante; Technologische Entwicklung; Altersstruktur; Einkommensunterschied; Einkommenseffekt; Lohnentwicklung; Lohnstruktur; Beschäftigtenstichprobe; Beschäftigungsstruktur; Niedrig Qualifizierter; Qualifikationsstruktur; Arbeitspapier; Entwicklung; IAB-Beschäftigtenstichprobe; IAB-Linked-Employer-Employee-Datensatz; Gewerkschaft; Institution; Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung; Hoch Qualifizierter
Abstract	"This paper challenges the view that the wage structure in West-Germany has remained stable throughout the 80s and 90s. Based on a 2 % sample of social security records, we show that wage inequality has increased in the 1980s, but only at the top of the distribution. In the early 1990s, wage inequality started to rise also at the bottom of the distribution. Hence, while the US and Germany experienced similar changes at the top of the distribution throughout the 80s and 90s, the patterns at the bottom of the distribution are reversed. We show that changes in the education and age structure can explain a substantial part of the increase in inequality, in particular at the top of the distribution. We further argue that selection into unemployment cannot account for the stable wage structure at the bottom in the 80s. In contrast, about one third of the increase in lower tail inequality in the 90s can be related to de-unionization. Finally, fluctuations in relative supply play an important role in explaining trends in the skill premium. These findings are consistent with the view that technological change is responsible for the widening of the wage distribution at the top. The widening of the wage distribution at the bottom, however, may be better explained by episodic events, such as changes in labour market institutions and supply shocks." Die Untersuchung enthält quantitative Daten. Forschungsmethode: empirisch-quantitativ; empirisch; Sekundäranalyse; Längsschnitt. Die Untersuchung bezieht sich auf den Zeitraum 1975 bis 2004. (author's abstract, IAB-Doku).
Erfasst von	Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Nürnberg
Update	2007/3