IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/izaels/v6y2017i1d10.1186_s40174-016-0074-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Co-movements between public and private wages in the EU: what factors and with what policy implications?

Author

Listed:
  • Benedicta Marzinotto

    (University of Udine)

  • Alessandro Turrini

    (European Commission and IZA)

Abstract

This paper assesses the relationship between public and private wages in the EU, as measured by general government and manufacturing compensations, respectively. We find that the long-run relation between the two is stronger when the government is a large employer. Manufacturing compensations are better aligned with productivity and unemployment when general government compensations, to which they generally respond, are set through bargaining. Finally, manufacturing compensations react in the same way whether those in the general government sector are increased or cut, a relation that seems to hold also under fiscal consolidation provided the government is a large employer. JEL Classification: C32, E24, E62, H59

Suggested Citation

  • Benedicta Marzinotto & Alessandro Turrini, 2017. "Co-movements between public and private wages in the EU: what factors and with what policy implications?," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-16, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:izaels:v:6:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1186_s40174-016-0074-1
    DOI: 10.1186/s40174-016-0074-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1186/s40174-016-0074-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1186/s40174-016-0074-1?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Perotti, Roberto, 1996. "Fiscal Consolidation in Europe: Composition Matters," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 105-110, May.
    2. Gonzalo Fernández-de-Córdoba & Javier Pérez & José Torres, 2012. "Public and private sector wages interactions in a general equilibrium model," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 309-326, January.
    3. Layard, R. & Nickell, S., 1991. "Unemployment in the OECD Countries," Economics Series Working Papers 99130, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    4. Marco Maffezzoli, 2001. "Non-Walrasian Labor Markets and Real Business Cycles," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 4(4), pages 860-892, October.
    5. Hartog, Joop & Oosterbeek, Hessel, 1993. "Public and private sector wages in the Netherlands," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 97-114, January.
    6. Alberto Alesina & Silvia Ardagna & Roberto Perotti & Fabio Schiantarelli, 2002. "Fiscal Policy, Profits, and Investment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(3), pages 571-589, June.
    7. Lamo, Ana & Pérez, Javier J. & Schuknecht, Ludger, 2013. "Are government wages interlinked with private sector wages?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 697-712.
    8. Alesina, Alberto & Perotti, Roberto, 1997. "The Welfare State and Competitiveness," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(5), pages 921-939, December.
    9. Afonso, António & Gomes, Pedro, 2014. "Interactions between private and public sector wages," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 39(PA), pages 97-112.
    10. Ana Lamo & Javier J. Pérez & Ludger Schuknecht, 2012. "Public or Private Sector Wage Leadership? An International Perspective," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(1), pages 228-244, March.
    11. Yann Algan & Pierre Cahuc & André Zylberberg, 2002. "Public employment and labour market performance [‘On the benefits from rigid labour markets: Norms, market failures and social insurances’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 17(34), pages 7-66.
    12. Holmlund, Bertil, 1993. "Wage setting in private and public sectors in a model with endogenous government behavior," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 149-162, May.
    13. Granger, C W J & Lee, T H, 1989. "Investigation of Production, Sales and Inventory Relationships Using Multicointegration and Non-symmetric Error Correction Models," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 4(S), pages 145-159, Supplemen.
    14. Lorenzo Forni & Raffaela Giordano, 2003. "Employment in the Public Sector," CESifo Working Paper Series 1085, CESifo.
    15. Holm-Hadulla, Fédéric & Kamath, Kishore & Lamo, Ana & Pérez, Javier J. & Schuknecht, Ludger, 2010. "Public wages in the euro area - towards securing stability and competitiveness," Occasional Paper Series 112, European Central Bank.
    16. Ana Lamo & Javier J. P鲥z & Ludger Schuknecht, 2013. "The cyclicality of consumption, wages and employment of the public sector in the euro area," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(12), pages 1551-1569, April.
    17. Pérez, Javier J. & Giordano, Raffaela & Depalo, Domenico & Coutinho Pereira, Manuel & Eugène, Bruno & Papapetrou, Evangelia & Reiss, Lukas & Roter, Mojca, 2011. "The public sector pay gap in a selection of Euro area countries," Working Paper Series 1406, European Central Bank.
    18. Lane, Philip R. & Perotti, Roberto, 2003. "The importance of composition of fiscal policy: evidence from different exchange rate regimes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(9-10), pages 2253-2279, September.
    19. Ardagna, Silvia, 2007. "Fiscal Policy in Unionized Labor Markets," Scholarly Articles 2580048, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    20. repec:hrv:faseco:3353756 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Ardagna, Silvia, 2007. "Fiscal policy in unionized labor markets," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 1498-1534, May.
    22. Ardagna, Silvia, 2004. "Fiscal Stabilizations: When Do They Work and Why," Scholarly Articles 2580047, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    23. Olivier Blanchard, 2007. "Adjustment within the euro. The difficult case of Portugal," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 6(1), pages 1-21, April.
    24. Ardagna, Silvia, 2004. "Fiscal stabilizations: When do they work and why," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(5), pages 1047-1074, October.
    25. Lane, Philip R. & Perotti, Roberto, 1998. "The trade balance and fiscal policy in the OECD," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(3-5), pages 887-895, May.
    26. Holm-Hadulla, Fédéric & Kamath, Kishore & Lamo, Ana & Pérez, Javier J. & Schuknecht, Ludger, 2010. "Public wages in the euro area - towards securing stability and competitiveness," Occasional Paper Series 112, European Central Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bellocchi, Alessandro & Travaglini, Giuseppe, 2023. "Can variable elasticity of substitution explain changes in labor shares?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).

    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. Marzinotto, Benedicta & Turrini, Alessandro, 2016. "Co-movements between Public and Private Wages in the EU: Which Factors Play a Role?," IZA Discussion Papers 9964, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Lamo, Ana & Pérez, Javier J. & Schuknecht, Ludger, 2013. "Are government wages interlinked with private sector wages?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 697-712.
    3. Gonzalo Fernández-de-Córdoba & Javier Pérez & José Torres, 2012. "Public and private sector wages interactions in a general equilibrium model," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 309-326, January.
    4. Javier J. Perez & Ana Lamo & Enrique Moral-Benito, 2015. "Does Slack Influence Public and Private Labor Market," EcoMod2015 8792, EcoMod.
    5. Afonso, António & Gomes, Pedro, 2014. "Interactions between private and public sector wages," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 39(PA), pages 97-112.
    6. George Economides & Dimitris Papageorgiou & Apostolis Philippopoulos & Vanghelis Vassilatos, 2013. "Smaller Public Sectors in the Euro Area: Aggregate and Distributional Implications," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 59(3), pages 536-558, September.
    7. Nalban, Valeriu & Smădu, Andra, 2021. "The interaction between private sector and public sector labor markets: Evidence from Romania," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 804-821.
    8. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2013. "Fiscal policy in a Real-Business-Cycle model with labor-intensive government services and endogenous public sector wages and hours," EconStor Preprints 142338, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    9. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2013. "Essays on Real Business Cycle Modeling and the Public Sector," EconStor Theses, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 130522, July.
    10. Ardagna, Silvia, 2007. "Fiscal policy in unionized labor markets," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 1498-1534, May.
    11. Jelena Lausev, 2014. "WHAT HAS 20 YEARS OF PUBLIC–PRIVATE PAY GAP LITERATURE TOLD US? EASTERN EUROPEAN TRANSITIONING vs. DEVELOPED ECONOMIES," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 516-550, July.
    12. Neicheva, Maria, 2007. "Non-Keynesian effects of Government Spending: Some implications for the Stability and Growth Pact," MPRA Paper 5277, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Adam, Antonis, 2020. "Under economic adjustment programs, do private sector wages respond to changes in public wages and employment?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 1334-1351.
    14. Gaetano D’Adamo, 2014. "Wage spillovers across sectors in Eastern Europe," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 523-552, September.
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    17. Pedro Gomes, 2018. "Heterogeneity And The Public Sector Wage Policy," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 59(3), pages 1469-1489, August.
    18. Fontaine, Idriss & Gálvez-Iniesta, Ismael & Gomes, Pedro & Vila-Martin, Diego, 2020. "Labour market flows: Accounting for the public sector," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    19. Kollintzas, Tryphon & Papageorgiou, Dimitris & Vassilatos, Vanghelis, 2018. "Market and political power interactions in Greece: A theory," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 59-83.
    20. Javier Pérez & A. Sánchez, 2011. "Is there a signalling role for public wages? Evidence for the euro area based on macro data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 421-445, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    General government compensations; Wage setting; Cost competitiveness; Fiscal consolidation; Co-integration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H59 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Other

    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:izaels:v:6:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1186_s40174-016-0074-1. 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.