IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/empeco/v28y2003i3p479-514.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

New insights on earnings trends across skill groups and industries in West Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Bernd Fitzenberger
  • Claudia Kurz

Abstract

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the structure of earnings in West Germany across skill groups and industries. Our analysis is based on data from the German Socioeconomic Panel for the period 1984 to 1994. We estimate quantile regressions, both for the entire sample period and for each year separately, in order to obtain a finer picture of the earnings structure compared to conventional least squares methods. For robust standard error estimation, this study uses a block bootstrap procedure taking account of heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation in the error term. We also suggest a simple procedure to obtain a consistent estimate of inter-industry earnings variability. Our main findings are: first, pooled estimation comprising a uniform time trend is not rejected by the data, and second, the effects of human capital variables and industry dummies on earnings differ considerably across quantiles. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2003

Suggested Citation

  • Bernd Fitzenberger & Claudia Kurz, 2003. "New insights on earnings trends across skill groups and industries in West Germany," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 479-514, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:28:y:2003:i:3:p:479-514
    DOI: 10.1007/s001810200142
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s001810200142
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s001810200142?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fels, Joachim & Gundlach, Erich, 1990. "More evidence on the puzzle of interindustry wage differentials: the case of West Germany," Kiel Working Papers 400, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    2. Sims,Christopher A. (ed.), 1994. "Advances in Econometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521444606, September.
    3. Michael C. Burda, 1991. "Some New Insights on the Interindustry Wage Structure from the German Socio-Economic Panel," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 30, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    4. Kurz, Claudia, 1995. "Die Entwicklung individueller und intersektoraler Verdienstrelationen im Zeitablauf: Eine Untersuchung für die BRD mit Daten des Sozio-ökonomischen Panels," Discussion Papers 31, University of Konstanz, Center for International Labor Economics (CILE).
    5. Schmidt, Christoph M & Zimmermann, Klaus F, 1991. "Work Characteristics, Firm Size and Wages," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(4), pages 705-710, November.
    6. Winker, Peter, 1991. "Zur Messung der Lohndifferenzierung mit Entropiemaßen," Discussion Papers, Series II 158, University of Konstanz, Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 178 "Internationalization of the Economy".
    7. Sims,Christopher A. (ed.), 1994. "Advances in Econometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521444590, September.
    8. Helwege, Jean, 1992. "Sectoral Shifts and Interindustry Wage Differentials," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(1), pages 55-84, January.
    9. Fels, Joachim & Gundlach, Erich, 1990. "Interindustrielle Lohnunterschiede und Effizienzlohntheorie: Befunde, Hypothesen und wirtschaftspolitische Relevanz," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 1456, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    10. Krueger, Alan B & Summers, Lawrence H, 1988. "Efficiency Wages and the Inter-industry Wage Structure," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(2), pages 259-293, March.
    11. Buchinsky, Moshe, 1994. "Changes in the U.S. Wage Structure 1963-1987: Application of Quantile Regression," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(2), pages 405-458, March.
    12. Fitzenberger, Bernd & Hujer, Reinhard & MaCurdy, Thomas E. & Schnabel, Reinhold, 1995. "The dynamic structure of wages in Germany 1976 - 1984: A cohort analysis," Discussion Papers 22, University of Konstanz, Center for International Labor Economics (CILE).
    13. Holmlund, Bertil & Zetterberg, Johnny, 1991. "Insider effects in wage determination : Evidence from five countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 1009-1034, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/5rkqqmvrn4tl22s9mc4b6ga2g is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Philip Du Caju & François Rycx & Ilan Tojerow, 2011. "Inter‐Industry Wage Differentials: How Much Does Rent Sharing Matter?," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 79(4), pages 691-717, July.
    3. Victor Chernozhukov & Iván Fernández‐Val & Blaise Melly, 2013. "Inference on Counterfactual Distributions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(6), pages 2205-2268, November.
    4. Michel Lubrano & Abdoul Aziz Junior Ndoye, 2014. "Bayesian Unconditional Quantile Regression: An Analysis of Recent Expansions in Wage Structure and Earnings Inequality in the US 1992–2009," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 61(2), pages 129-153, May.
    5. Robert Plasman & François Rycx & Ilan Tojerow, 2007. "Wage differentials in Belgium: the role of worker and employer characteristics," Brussels Economic Review, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles, vol. 50(1), pages 11-40.
    6. V L Miguéis & D F Benoit & D Van den Poel, 2013. "Enhanced decision support in credit scoring using Bayesian binary quantile regression," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 64(9), pages 1374-1383, September.
    7. Alessia Matano & Paolo Naticchioni, 2009. "Wage distribution and the spatial sorting of workers and firms," Working Papers - Dipartimento di Economia 8-DEISFOL, Dipartimento di Economia, Sapienza University of Rome, revised 2009.
    8. Claudia Olivetti & Barbara Petrongolo, 2008. "Unequal Pay or Unequal Employment? A Cross-Country Analysis of Gender Gaps," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(4), pages 621-654, October.
    9. Du Caju, Philip & Rycx, François & Tojerow, Ilan, 2008. "Rent-Sharing and the Cyclicality of Wage Differentials," IZA Discussion Papers 3844, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. de la Rica, Sara & Dolado, Juan J. & Llorens, Vanesa, 2005. "Ceiling and Floors: Gender Wage Gaps by Education in Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 1483, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Bryan S. Graham & Jinyong Hahn & Alexandre Poirier & James L. Powell, 2015. "Quantile Regression with Panel Data," NBER Working Papers 21034, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Richard Blundell & Amanda Gosling & Hidehiko Ichimura & Costas Meghir, 2007. "Changes in the Distribution of Male and Female Wages Accounting for Employment Composition Using Bounds," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 75(2), pages 323-363, March.
    13. Claudio Lucifora & Dominique Meurs, 2006. "The Public Sector Pay Gap In France, Great Britain And Italy," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 52(1), pages 43-59, March.
    14. Jolliffe, Dean, 2011. "Overweight and poor? On the relationship between income and the body mass index," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 342-355.
    15. Daniel Pollmann & Thomas Dohmen & Franz Palm, 2020. "Robust Estimation of Wage Dispersion with Censored Data: An Application to Occupational Earnings Risk and Risk Attitudes," De Economist, Springer, vol. 168(4), pages 519-540, December.
    16. Victor Chernozhukov, 2005. "Extremal quantile regression," Papers math/0505639, arXiv.org.
    17. Teulings, Coen N., 1997. "A new theory of corporatism and wage setting," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(3-5), pages 659-669, April.
    18. Philip Du Caju & François Rycx & Ilan Tojerow, 2011. "Wage Structure Effects of International Trade: Evidence from a Small Open Economy," Working Papers CEB 11-011, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    19. Qingjie Xia & Lina Song & Shi Li & Simon Appleton, 2014. "The effect of the state sector on wage inequality in urban China: 1988--2007," Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 29-45, February.
    20. Holmes, Paul, 2011. "New evidence of salary discrimination in major league baseball," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 320-331, June.
    21. Nicole Guertzgen, 2009. "Rent‐sharing and Collective Bargaining Coverage: Evidence from Linked Employer–Employee Data," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 111(2), pages 323-349, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Key words: Earnings Structure across Skill Groups and Industries; Quantile Regression; Block Bootstrap; JEL classification: J31; C23;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

    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:spr:empeco:v:28:y:2003:i:3:p:479-514. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.