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Wages are flexible, aren’t they? Evidence from monthly micro wage data

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Author Info
Patrick Lünnemann () (Banque centrale du Luxembourg; 2, boulevard Royal; L-2983 Luxembourg, Luxembourg.)
Ladislav Wintr () (Banque centrale du Luxembourg; 2, boulevard Royal; L-2983 Luxembourg, Luxembourg.)
Abstract

This paper assesses the degree of wage flexibility in Luxembourg using an administrative data set on individual base wages covering the entire economy over the period 2001-2006 with monthly frequency. We find that the wage flexibility at the discretion of the firm is rather low once we limit measurement error and remove wage changes due to institutional factors (indexation, changes in statutory minimum wage, age and marital status). The so adjusted frequency of wage change lies between 5% and 7%. On average, wages change less often than consumer prices. Less than one percent of (nominal) wages are cut both from month to month and from year to year. Due to automatic wage indexation, wages appear to be subject to substantial downward real wage rigidity. Finally, wage changes tend to be highly synchronised as they are concentrated around the events of wage indexation and the month of January. JEL Classification: J31.

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Paper provided by European Central Bank in its series Working Paper Series with number 1074.

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Length: 60 pages
Date of creation: Jul 2009
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Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20091074

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Keywords: wage flexibility; wage rigidity.;

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  1. Álvarez, L. & Dhyne, E. & Hoeberichts, M. & Kwapil, C. & Le Bihan, H. & Lünnemann, P. & Martins, F. & Sabbatini, R. & Stahl,H. & Vermeulen, P. & Vilmunen, J., 2005. "Sticky Prices in the Euro Area: A Summary of New Micro Evidence," Documents de Travail 138, Banque de France. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Filippo Altissimo & Laurent Bilke & Andrew Levin & Thomas Mathä & Benoit Mojon, 2006. "Sectoral and Aggregate Inflation Dynamics in the Euro Area," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 4(2-3), pages 585-593, 04-05. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Philip Vermeulen & Daniel Dias & Maarten Dossche & Erwan Gautier & Ignacio Hernando & Roberto Sabbatini & Harald Stahl, 2007. "Price setting in the euro area : some stylised facts from individual producer price data," Research series 200703-30, National Bank of Belgium. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Fehr, Ernst & Goette, Lorenz, 2005. "Robustness and real consequences of nominal wage rigidity," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(4), pages 779-804, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. David Card & Sara de la Rica, 2004. "The effect of firm-level contracts on the structure of wages: evidence from matched .," DFAEII Working Papers 200406, University of the Basque Country - Department of Foundations of Economic Analysis II, revised 15 Nov 2006. [Downloadable!]
  6. William T. Dickens & Lorenz Goette & Erica L. Groshen & Steinar Holden & Julian Messina & Mark E. Schweitzer & Jarkko Turunen & Melanie E. Ward, 2006. "How wages change : micro evidence from the International Wage Flexibility Project," Research series 200610-8, National Bank of Belgium. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Luc Aucremanne & Emmanuel Dhyne, 2004. "How frequently do prices change? Evidence based on the micro data underlying the Belgian CPI," Research series 200404-1, National Bank of Belgium. [Downloadable!]
  8. Luc Aucremanne & Emmanuel Dhyne, 2004. "How frequently do prices change? Evidence based on the micro data underlying the Belgian CPI," Working Paper Series 331, European Central Bank. [Downloadable!]
  9. Laurent Baudry & Hervé Le Bihan & Patrick Sevestre & Sylvie Tarrieu, 2004. "Price rigidity. Evidence from the French CPI micro-data," Working Paper Series 384, European Central Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  10. Jushan Bai & Pierre Perron, 2003. "Computation and analysis of multiple structural change models," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(1), pages 1-22. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Olivier Blanchard & Jordi Galí, 2007. "Real Wage Rigidities and the New Keynesian Model," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 39(s1), pages 35-65, 02. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Peter Gottschalk, 2005. "Downward Nominal-Wage Flexibility: Real or Measurement Error?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(3), pages 556-568, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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