This paper provides a sub-sectoral analysis of changes in the public-private sector pay gap in Ireland between 2003 and 2006. We find that between March 2003 and October 2006 the public sector pay premium increased from 14 to 26 per cent and that there was substantial variation between subsectors of the public service. Within the public service the premium in 2006 was highest in Education and Security Services and lowest in the Civil Service and Local Authorities. In the private sector the pay penalty in 2006, relative to the public sector, was most severe in Hotels & Restaurants and in Wholesale & Retail and least severe in Financial Intermediation and Construction. The paper tests for the sensitivity of the pay gap estimates using a matching framework, which provides a stronger emphasis on job content, and finds the results to be broadly comparable to OLS. Finally, the study highlights the problems associated with controlling for organisational size in any study of the public-private pay gap in Ireland.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) in its series Papers with number
WP321.
Length: Date of creation: Oct 2009 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp321
Contact details of provider: Postal: Whitaker Square, Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin 2 Phone: (353-1) 863 2000 Fax: (353-1) 863 2100 Email: Web page: http://www.esri.ie More information through EDIRC
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Sarah Burns).