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A Note on the Calculation of Firm-specific and Skill-specific Labor Costs from Firm-level Data / Zur Berechnung von qualifikations- und firmenspezifischen Arbeitskosten auf der Grundlage von Firmendaten

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  • Kaiser Ulrich

    (Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Department of Industrial Economics and International Management, P.O. Box 103443, D-68163 Mannheim)

Abstract

Virtually all empirical firm-level studies on the demand for heterogeneous labor do not include labor cost in the econometric specification. This is due to the fact that business and innovation survey data usually lack differentiated information on labor cost. This paper shows how reliable skill-specific and firm-specific labor cost can be calculated from firm-level data on the basis of information on total labor cost and firms' skill mix only. The simple method proposed here is applied to German innovation survey data.Three consistency checks are performed: (i) the estimated skill-specific and firm-specific labor costs are compared to aggregated data taken from official statistics, (ii) it is tested if the methods leads to "too much" variation of skill-specific labor costs within firms across time and (iii) labor costs are estimated for two different data sets and compared to reality. The consistency checks indicate that the labor cost decomposition proposed in this paper leads to reliable results.

Suggested Citation

  • Kaiser Ulrich, 2000. "A Note on the Calculation of Firm-specific and Skill-specific Labor Costs from Firm-level Data / Zur Berechnung von qualifikations- und firmenspezifischen Arbeitskosten auf der Grundlage von Firmendat," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 220(5), pages 541-551, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:jns:jbstat:v:220:y:2000:i:5:p:541-551
    DOI: 10.1515/jbnst-2000-0504
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ulrich Kaiser, 2000. "New Technologies And The Demand For Heterogeneous Labor: Firm-Level Evidence For The German Business-Related Service Sector," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(5), pages 465-486.
    2. Katz, Lawrence F. & Autor, David H., 1999. "Changes in the wage structure and earnings inequality," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 26, pages 1463-1555, Elsevier.
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    6. Haskel, Jonathan & Heden, Ylva, 1999. "Computers and the Demand for Skilled Labour: Industry- and Establishment-Level Panel Evidence for the UK," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(454), pages 68-79, March.
    7. David Blanchflower & Simon Burgess, 1998. "New Technology And Jobs: Comparative Evidence From A Two Country Study," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(2-4), pages 109-138.
    8. James D. Adams, 1999. "The Structure Of Firm R&D, The Factor Intensity Of Production, And Skill Bias," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(3), pages 499-510, August.
    9. Kaiser, Ulrich & Pohlmeier, Winfried, 2000. "Efficient Bargaining and the Skill-Structure of Wages and Employment," CoFE Discussion Papers 00/24, University of Konstanz, Center of Finance and Econometrics (CoFE).
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    Cited by:

    1. Verworn, Birgit & Hipp, Christiane & Schwarz, Doreen, 2007. "Gefährden alternde Belegschaften die Innovationsfähigkeit deutscher Unternehmen? Ergebnisse einer ersten kritischen Analyse," Working Paper Series 4, Brandenburg University of Technology (BTU Cottbus), Chair of Organization, Human Resource & General Management.

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