IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/brjirl/v46y2008i1p59-75.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Wages and Contracting Out: Does the Law of One Price Hold?

Author

Listed:
  • Samuel Berlinski

Abstract

We find that, conditioning on industry of assignment, cleaners and security guards who participate in activities organized by contract companies earn 15 and 17 per cent less, respectively, than workers in those activities organized in‐house. These estimates are hardly affected by the inclusion of a set of jointly statistically significant exogenous variables. We can expect that most of the productive traits that characterize a task are transferred to the contractor in the process of contracting out a cleaning or security task. Thus, our findings are hard to rationalize by a simple competitive labour market setting where the law of one price holds.

Suggested Citation

  • Samuel Berlinski, 2008. "Wages and Contracting Out: Does the Law of One Price Hold?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 46(1), pages 59-75, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:46:y:2008:i:1:p:59-75
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8543.2007.00665.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.2007.00665.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-8543.2007.00665.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Samuel G. Berlinski, 2000. "Contracting-out and the Interindustry Wage Structure: Do Norms of Internal Equity Matter in Wage Determination?," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 1053, Econometric Society.
    2. Marcello Estevao & Saul Lach, 1999. "Measuring temporary labor outsourcing in U.S. manufacturing," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1999-57, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Deborah Goldschmidt & Johannes F. Schmieder, 2017. "The Rise of Domestic Outsourcing and the Evolution of the German Wage Structure," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(3), pages 1165-1217.
    2. Arindrajit Dube & Ethan Kaplan, 2010. "Does Outsourcing Reduce Wages in the Low-Wage Service Occupations? Evidence from Janitors and Guards," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 63(2), pages 287-306, January.
    3. Laurence Lizé, 2020. "Conditions de travail dans la sous-traitance : des salariés sous pression un questionnement sur les contours de la segmentation des emplois," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-02967180, HAL.
    4. Laurence Lizé, 2020. "Conditions de travail dans la sous-traitance : des salariés sous pression un questionnement sur les contours de la segmentation des emplois," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 20021, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    5. Laurence Lizé, 2020. "Conditions de travail dans la sous-traitance : des salariés sous pression un questionnement sur les contours de la segmentation des emplois," Post-Print halshs-02967180, HAL.
    6. Corinne Perraudin & Héloïse Petit & Nadine Thèvenot & Bruno Tinel & Julie Valentin, 2009. "Inter-firm dependency and employment inequalities: Theoretical hypotheses and empirical tests," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 09019, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    7. Pétronille Rème-Harnay, 2024. "Precarity and Subcontracting Relationships: The Case of Parcel Delivery Drivers in France," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(3), pages 596-614, June.
    8. Danielle D. Van Jaarsveld & Hyunji Kwon & Ann C. Frost, 2009. "The Effects of Institutional and Organizational Characteristics on Work Force Flexibility: Evidence from Call Centers in Three Liberal Market Economies," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 62(4), pages 573-601, July.
    9. Ochsenfeld, Fabian, 2018. "The Relational Nature of Employment Dualization: Evidence from Subcontracting Establishments," SocArXiv ta4r6, Center for Open Science.
    10. Hammerling, Jessie HF, 2022. "Trends in Inter-Firm Transactions Across Industries in the U.S," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt9dr868wx, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    11. Hammerling, Jessie HF, 2022. "Financial Drivers of Domestic Outsourcing: Case Study of Food Services in the San Francisco Bay Area," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt9sz919zw, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jeffrey B. Wenger & Arne L. Kalleberg, 2006. "Employers’ Flexibility and Employment Volatility," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(2), pages 347-382, April.
    2. Almas Heshmati, 2003. "Productivity Growth, Efficiency and Outsourcing in Manufacturing and Service Industries," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(1), pages 79-112, February.
    3. Alberto López, 2014. "Outsourcing and firm productivity: a production function approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 977-998, November.
    4. Ann Bartel & Saul Lach & Nachum Sicherman, 2005. "Outsourcing and Technological Change," NBER Working Papers 11158, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Yukako Ono & Daniel Sullivan, 2013. "Manufacturing Plants' Use of Temporary Workers: An Analysis Using Census Microdata," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 419-443, April.
    6. Randall W. Eberts, 2005. "After the doors close: assisting laid-off workers to find jobs," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 29(Q II), pages 75-85.
    7. Matthew Dey & Susan Houseman & Anne Polivka, 2006. "Manufacturers' Outsourcing to Employment Services," Upjohn Working Papers 07-132, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    8. Marloes de Graaf-Zijl & Gerard van den Berg & Arjan Heyma, 2011. "Stepping stones for the unemployed: the effect of temporary jobs on the duration until (regular) work," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(1), pages 107-139, January.
    9. Yukako Ono & Alexei Zelenev, 2003. "Temporary help services and the volatility of industry output," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 27(Q II), pages 15-28.
    10. Fitzenberger, Bernd & Hübler, Olaf & Kraft, Kornelius, 2008. "Flexibilisierungspotenziale bei heterogenen Arbeitsmärkten : eine Einführung (Potentials for increasing flexibility in heterogeneous labour markets : an introduction)," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 41(2/3), pages 95-116.
    11. David H. Autor, 2000. "Outsourcing at Will: Unjust Dismissal Doctrine and the Growth of Temporary Help Employment," NBER Working Papers 7557, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Matthew Dey & Susan Houseman & Anne Polivka, 2010. "What Do We Know About Contracting Out in the United States? Evidence from Household and Establishment Surveys," NBER Chapters, in: Labor in the New Economy, pages 267-304, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Susan HOUSEMAN, 2007. "Outsourcing, offshoring and productivity measurement in United States manufacturing," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 146(1-2), pages 61-80, March.
    14. Marcello M. Estevao & Saul Lach, 1999. "The Evolution of the Demand for Temporary Help Supply Employment in the United States," NBER Working Papers 7427, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Britton Lombardi & Yukako Ono, 2008. "Professional employer organizations: What are they, who uses them, and why should we care?," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 32(Q IV), pages 2-14.
    16. Fitzenberger, Bernd & Hübler, Olaf & Kraft, Kornelius, 2008. "Flexibilisierungspotenziale bei heterogenen Arbeitsmärkten : eine Einführung (Potentials for increasing flexibility in heterogeneous labour markets : an introduction)," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 41(2/3), pages 95-116.
    17. Fitzenberger, Bernd & Hübler, Olaf & Kraft, Kornelius, 2008. "Flexibilisierungspotenziale bei heterogenen Arbeitsmärkten : eine Einführung (Potentials for increasing flexibility in heterogeneous labour markets : an introduction)," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 41(2/3), pages 95-116.
    18. Maria Ward Otoo, 1999. "Temporary employment and the natural rate of unemployment," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1999-66, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:46:y:2008:i:1:p:59-75. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.