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The Public Sector Pay Gap in a Selection of Euro Area Countries in the Pre-crisis Period

Author

Listed:
  • Raffaela Giordano

    (Banca d’Italia)

  • Manuel Coutinho Pereira

    (Banco de Portugal)

  • Domenico Depalo

    (Banca de Italia)

  • Bruno Eugène

    (Banque Nationale de Belgique)

  • Evangelia Papapetrou

    (Bank of Greece)

  • Javier J. Pérez

    (Banco de España)

  • Lukas Reiss

    (Oesterreichische Nationalbank)

  • Mojca Roter

    (Banka Slovenije)

Abstract

We investigate the public-private wage differentials in ten euro area countries (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain) in the pre-crisis period (2004-2007). To account for differences in employment characteristics between the two sectors, we focus on micro data taken from EU-SILC. The results point to a conditional pay differential in favour of our public sector proxy that is generally higher for women, at the low tail of the wage distribution, in the Education and the Public administration sectors rather than in the Health sector. Notable differences emerge across countries, with Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain exhibiting higher public sector premia than other countries

Suggested Citation

  • Raffaela Giordano & Manuel Coutinho Pereira & Domenico Depalo & Bruno Eugène & Evangelia Papapetrou & Javier J. Pérez & Lukas Reiss & Mojca Roter, 2014. "The Public Sector Pay Gap in a Selection of Euro Area Countries in the Pre-crisis Period," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 214(3), pages 11-34, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:hpe:journl:y:2015:v:214:i:3:p:11-34
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Baez, Maria Josefina & Brassiolo, Pablo & Estrada, Ricardo & Fajardo, Gustavo, 2022. "Going subnational: Wage differentials across levels of government in Brazil, Mexico, and Uruguay," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    2. Javier J. Pérez & Marie Aouriri & Maria M. Campos & Dmitrij Celov & Domenico Depalo & Evangelia Papapetrou & Jurga Pesliakaite & Roberto Ramos Magdaleno & Marta Rodríguez-Vives, 2016. "The fiscal and macroeconomic effects of government wages and employment reform," Occasional Papers 1607, Banco de España.
    3. Maria M. Campos & Domenico Depalo & Evangelia Papapetrou & Javier J. Pérez & Roberto Ramos, 2017. "Understanding the public sector pay gap," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-29, December.
    4. Jørn Rattsø & Hildegunn E.Stokke, 2018. "Dynamic private-public wage gap: Return to experience, education level and cit effect," Working Paper Series 17518, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
    5. Rattsø, Jørn & Stokke, Hildegunn E., 2020. "Private-public wage gap and return to experience: Role of geography, gender and education," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    6. Bold, Tessa & Barton, Nicholas & Sandefur, Justin, 2017. "Measuring Rents from Public Employment: Regression discontinuity evidence from Kenya," CEPR Discussion Papers 12105, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Nicholas Barton & Tessa Bold & Justin Sandefur, 2017. "Measuring Rents from Public Employment: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from Kenya - Working Paper 457," Working Papers 457, Center for Global Development.
    8. Rattsø, Jørn & Stokke, Hildegunn E., 2019. "Identification of the private-public wage gap," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 153-163.
    9. Kamila Sławińska, 2021. "Public–private sector wage gap in a group of European countries: an empirical perspective," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 1747-1775, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public sector wages; public-private pay gap; wage equations.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe

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