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Wage Rigidity in Canadian Collective Bargaining Agreements

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  • Louis N. Christofides
  • Thanasis Stengos

Abstract

The authors search information on the provisions of 10,947 wage contracts signed in the Canadian unionized sector between 1976 and 1999 for evidence of downward nominal wage rigidity (the disinclination of wages to fall, in nominal dollars, below their established level). Over the sample period, real wage reductions were common, but nominal wage reductions were rare. The probability of downward nominal wage rigidity increased substantially during low-inflation periods. During such periods, apparently there was no reduction in the incidence of real wage cuts, but the magnitude of those cuts was modest, suggesting a lesser ability of wages to adjust to labor market conditions than at other times.

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  • Louis N. Christofides & Thanasis Stengos, 2003. "Wage Rigidity in Canadian Collective Bargaining Agreements," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 56(3), pages 429-448, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:56:y:2003:i:3:p:429-448
    DOI: 10.1177/001979390305600304
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    Cited by:

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    2. Andy Snell & Jonathan P. Thomas, 2010. "Labor Contracts, Equal Treatment, and Wage-Unemployment Dynamics," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 98-127, July.
    3. Jonas Agell & Helge Bennmarker, 2003. "Endogenous Wage Rigidity," CESifo Working Paper Series 1081, CESifo.
    4. Christofides, Louis N. & Nearchou, Paris, 2007. "Real and nominal wage rigidities in collective bargaining agreements," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 695-715, August.
    5. Christofides, Louis N. & Li, Dingding, 2005. "Nominal and real wage rigidity in a friction model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 235-241, May.
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    7. Patrick J. Coe, 2018. "Downward nominal wage rigidity: Evidence from Canada 1901–1950," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 51(3), pages 946-967, August.
    8. E. Gautier & D. Fougère & S. Roux, 2016. "The Impact of the National Minimum Wage on Industry-Level Wage Bargaining in France," Working papers 587, Banque de France.
    9. Barno Blaes, 2008. "Abwärtsnominal- und Tariflohnstarrheit in Deutschland," Working Papers 049, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    10. Louis Christofides & Amy Chen Peng, 2007. "Real Wage Chronologies," CESifo Working Paper Series 2096, CESifo.
    11. Dany Brouillette & Olena Kostyshyna & Natalia Kyui, 2018. "Downward nominal wage rigidity in Canada: Evidence from micro-level data," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 51(3), pages 968-1002, August.
    12. Jonathan Thomas & Andy Snell, 2007. "Real and Nominal Wage Rigidity in a Model of Equal-Treatment Contracting," CDMA Conference Paper Series 0708, Centre for Dynamic Macroeconomic Analysis.
    13. Barno Blaes, 2008. "Ausmaß und reale Konsequenzen nach unten starrer Nominallöhne," Working Papers 048, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    14. Fang, Ying & Li, Qi & Wu, Ximing & Zhang, Daiqiang, 2015. "A data-driven smooth test of symmetry," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 188(2), pages 490-501.
    15. Zeira, Joseph & Strawczynski, Michel, 2009. "Cyclicality of Fiscal Policy: Permanent and Transitory Shocks," CEPR Discussion Papers 7271, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Petri Böckerman & Seppo Laaksonen & Jari Vainiomäki, 2007. "Who bears the burden of wage cuts? Evidence from Finland during the 1990s," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 28(2), pages 100-121, May.
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    18. Sanvi Avouyi-Dovi & Denis Fougère & Erwan Gautier, 2013. "Wage Rigidity, Collective Bargaining, and the Minimum Wage: Evidence from French Agreement Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(4), pages 1337-1351, October.
    19. Fougère, Denis & Gautier, Erwan & Roux, Sébastien, 2018. "Wage floor rigidity in industry-level agreements: Evidence from France," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 72-97.
    20. Petri Böckerman & Seppo Laaksonen & Jari Vainiomäki, 2006. "Micro-level evidence on wage rigidities in Finland," Working Papers 219, Työn ja talouden tutkimus LABORE, The Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE.
    21. Thomas Beissinger & Chritoph Knoppik, 2005. "Sind Nominallöhne starr? Neuere Evidenz und wirtschaftspolitische Implikationen," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 6(2), pages 171-188, May.
    22. Christofides, Louis N. & Mamuneas, Theofanis P., 2003. "Inflation and productivity shocks," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 117-123, January.
    23. Guangjie Ning, 2008. "Wage forming mechanism in the market transitional process of China (1993–2005): Evidence from the provincial panel data," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 3(2), pages 312-326, June.
    24. Joan Daouli & Michael Demoussis & Nicholas Giannakopoulos & Ioannis Laliotis, 2016. "The 2011 Industrial Relations Reform and Nominal Wage Adjustments in Greece," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 37(4), pages 460-483, December.
    25. Giannakopoulos, Nicholas & Laliotis, Ioannis, 2017. "Decentralized Bargaining and the Greek Labour Relations Reform (Law 4024/2011)," MPRA Paper 76513, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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