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Wage Inequality, Employment Structure and Skill‐biased Change in Italy

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  • Paolo Naticchioni
  • Andrea Ricci
  • Emiliano Rustichelli

Abstract

. This paper investigates empirically the relation between wage inequality, employment structure, and skill‐biased change in Italy between 1993 and 2004. Applying quantile decomposition analysis, we point out that changes in wage inequality are mainly driven by a decrease in educational premia over time, whereas changes in employment structure play a negligible role. This evidence suggests that changes in wage inequality in Italy can hardly be interpreted in terms of a skill‐biased change, and the evidence is further reinforced by a set of descriptive statistics showing that the increasing educational attainments of the workforce might have been crowded out by a stable trend in the demand for skills.

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  • Paolo Naticchioni & Andrea Ricci & Emiliano Rustichelli, 2008. "Wage Inequality, Employment Structure and Skill‐biased Change in Italy," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 22(s1), pages 27-51, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:labour:v:22:y:2008:i:s1:p:27-51
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9914.2008.00416.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Naticchioni, Paolo & Ragusa, Giuseppe & Massari, Riccardo, 2014. "Unconditional and Conditional Wage Polarization in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 8465, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Wickham James, 2011. "Low Skill Manufacturing Work: from skill biased change to technological Regression / Niedrig qualifizierte Industriearbeit: vom qualifikationsbeeinflussten Strukturwandel zur technologischen Regressio," Arbeit, De Gruyter, vol. 20(3), pages 224-238, September.
    3. Gurleen Popli & Okan Yılmaz, 2017. "Educational Attainment and Wage Inequality in Turkey," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 31(1), pages 73-104, March.
    4. Antonioli, Davide & Manzalini, Rocco & Pini, Paolo, 2011. "Innovation, workers skills and industrial relations: Empirical evidence from firm-level Italian data," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 312-326, May.
    5. Gabriele Ballarino & Massimiliano Bratti, 2009. "Field of Study and University Graduates' Early Employment Outcomes in Italy during 1995–2004," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 23(3), pages 421-457, September.
    6. de Oliveira Cruz , Bruno & Naticchioni , Paolo, 2012. "Falling urban wage premium and inequality trends: evidence for Brazil," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 24, pages 91-113.
    7. Bosio, Giulio, 2009. "Temporary employment and wage gap with permanent jobs: evidence from quantile regression," MPRA Paper 16055, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Ana Karina Alfaro & José Javier Núñez Velázquez, 2010. "The Spanish technnical change: A regional and a dynamic analysis (1994-2007)," Alcamentos 1002, Universidad de Alcalá, Departamento de Economía..
    9. Irene Brunetti & Valerio Intraligi & Andrea Ricci & Valeria Cirillo, 2020. "Low‐skill jobs and routine tasks specialization: New insights from Italian provinces," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(6), pages 1561-1581, December.
    10. Riccardo Leoni & Paola Gritti, 2017. "Institutional Wage Setting, Distinctive Competencies and Wage Premia," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 3(1), pages 71-111, March.
    11. Paola Gritti & Riccardo Leoni, 2013. "The impact on wages of generic competencies, psychological capital, new work practices and digital technologies," Working Papers (2013-) 1301, University of Bergamo, Department of Management, Economics and Quantitative Methods.
    12. Alessio Tomelleri, 2021. "Temporary jobs and increasing inequality for recent cohorts in Italy," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 35(4), pages 500-537, December.
    13. Giangregorio Luca & Fana Marta, 2021. "The structure of the labour market and wage inequality using RIF-OLS: the Italian case," JRC Working Papers on Labour, Education and Technology 2021-11, Joint Research Centre.
    14. Panchanan Das, 2018. "Wage Gap and Employment Status in Indian Labour Market - Quantile Based Counterfactual Analysis," World Journal of Applied Economics, WERI-World Economic Research Institute, vol. 4(2), pages 117-134, December.

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