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Decomposing the large firm wage premium in Germany

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  • Lochner, Benjamin
  • Seth, Stefan
  • Wolter, Stefanie
Abstract
We use an extensive, matched employer–employee dataset to analyze the employer-size wage relation and its contribution to wage inequality in Germany. Applying models with additive fixed effects for workers and establishments, we document that the large firm wage premium (LFWP), which rose over 25 years, has only recently started to decrease. Our decomposition shows that firm size explains a significant share of the trends in wage inequality. The LFWP accounts for about 20% of the rise in wage inequality from the mid 80s to 2010. From 2010 onward, wage inequality has slightly declined and the LFWP accounts for 33% of this trend reversal.

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  • Lochner, Benjamin & Seth, Stefan & Wolter, Stefanie, 2020. "Decomposing the large firm wage premium in Germany," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:194:y:2020:i:c:s0165176520302330
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2020.109368
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    1. David Card & Ana Rute Cardoso & Joerg Heining & Patrick Kline, 2018. "Firms and Labor Market Inequality: Evidence and Some Theory," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(S1), pages 13-70.
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    4. Jae Song & David J Price & Fatih Guvenen & Nicholas Bloom & Till von Wachter, 2019. "Firming Up Inequality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(1), pages 1-50.
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    6. Emanuele Colonnelli & Joacim Tåg & Michael Webb & Stefanie Wolter, 2018. "A Cross-Country Comparison of Dynamics in the Large Firm Wage Premium," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 108, pages 323-327, May.
    7. Oberfichtner Michael & Schnabel Claus, 2019. "The German Model of Industrial Relations: (Where) Does It Still Exist?," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 239(1), pages 5-37, January.
    8. Christian Dustmann & Johannes Ludsteck & Uta Schönberg, 2009. "Revisiting the German Wage Structure," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(2), pages 843-881.
    9. Katarína Borovičková & Robert Shimer, 2017. "High Wage Workers Work for High Wage Firms," NBER Working Papers 24074, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Charles C. Brown & James L. Medoff, 1988. "Employer Size, Pay, and the Ability to Pay in the Public Sector," NBER Chapters, in: When Public Sector Workers Unionize, pages 195-216, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Oberfichtner Michael & Schnabel Claus, 2019. "The German Model of Industrial Relations: (Where) Does It Still Exist?," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 239(1), pages 5-37, January.
    12. Nicholas Bloom & Fatih Guvenen & Benjamin S. Smith & Jae Song & Till von Wachter, 2018. "The Disappearing Large-Firm Wage Premium," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 108, pages 317-322, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Moritz Drechsel‐Grau & Andreas Peichl & Kai D. Schmid & Johannes F. Schmieder & Hannes Walz & Stefanie Wolter, 2022. "Inequality and income dynamics in Germany," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(4), pages 1593-1635, November.
    2. Bias, Daniel & Chen, Lin & Lochner, Benjamin & Schmid, Thomas, 2020. "Measuring workers' financial incentives," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 07/2020, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
    3. Benjamin Lochner & Bastian Schulz, 2024. "Firm Productivity, Wages, and Sorting," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(1), pages 85-119.
    4. Kovalenko, Tim & Sauerbier, Timo & Schröpf, Benedikt, 2024. "The fall and rebound of average establishment size in West Germany," Discussion Papers 11/2024, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    5. Kovalenko, Tim & Sauerbier, Timo & Schröpf, Benedikt, 2023. "The fall and rebound of average establishment size in West Germany," Discussion Papers 126, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    6. Mario Bossler & Nicole Gürtzgen & Alexander Kubis & Benjamin Küfner & Benjamin Lochner, 2020. "The IAB Job Vacancy Survey: design and research potential," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 54(1), pages 1-12, December.
    7. Pawe{l} Gola & Yuejun Zhao, 2024. "A Firm Link: Overall, Between- and Within-Firm Inequality Through the Lens of a Sorting Model," Papers 2410.11532, arXiv.org.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Firm size; Wage inequality; Wage premiums; Fixed-effect wage models; Firm and worker heterogeneity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J00 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - General
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J40 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - General

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