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The great compression of the French wage structure, 1969–2008

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  • Gregory Verdugo

    (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, OFCE - Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po)

Abstract

Wage inequality decreased continuously in France from 1969 to 2008. In contrast to the US and the UK, this period was also characterised by a substantial increase in the educational attainment of the labour force. This paper investigates whether differences in the timing of educational expansion over the last forty years can explain the divergent evolution of upper tail wage inequality in France relative to other countries. Using a model with imperfect substitution between experience groups, the estimates suggest that the rapid increase in the supply of educated workers during the 1970s and 1990s produced a substantial decline in the skill premium within cohorts. As a result, between a third and half of the decline in wage inequality at the top of the distribution in France during this period is explained by the increase in the educational attainment of the labour force.

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  • Gregory Verdugo, 2014. "The great compression of the French wage structure, 1969–2008," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-01296762, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:cesptp:hal-01296762
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2014.04.009
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    2. Hamid Boustanifar & Everett Grant & Ariell Reshef, 2018. "Wages and Human Capital in Finance: International Evidence, 1970–2011 [Financial reform: what shakes it? What shapes it?]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 22(2), pages 699-745.
    3. Verdugo, Gregory & Allègre, Guillaume, 2020. "Labour force participation and job polarization: Evidence from Europe during the Great Recession," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    4. Malgouyres, Clément, 2014. "Chinese imports competition’s impact on employment and the wage distribution: evidence from French local labor markets," Economics Working Papers ECO2014/12, European University Institute.
    5. Milan Bouchet-Valat, 2017. "Does women’s employment growth increase wage inequalities between couples? The case of France between 1982 and 2014," Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE), issue 493, pages 67-85.
    6. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/4igrl22i129kl9t3bjsriribbs is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Bauluz, Luis & Bukowski, Pawel & Fransham, Mark & Lee, Annie Seong & López Forero, Margarita & Novokmet, Filip & Breau, Sébastien & Lee, Neil & Malgouyres, Clément & Schularick, Moritz & Verdugo, Greg, 2023. "Spatial wage inequality in North America and Western Europe: changes between and within local labour markets 1975-2019," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121290, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Nicolas Canry, 2020. "Why and How Should Human Capital be Measured in National Accounts?," Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE), issue 517-518-5, pages 61-79.
    9. Ortega, Javier & Verdugo, Gregory, 2014. "The impact of immigration on the French labor market: Why so different?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 14-27.
    10. James Harrigan & Ariell Reshef & Farid Toubal, 2016. "The March of the Techies: Technology, Trade, and Job Polarization in France, 1994-2007," NBER Working Papers 22110, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Ortega, Javier & Verdugo, Gregory, 2016. "Moving Up or Down? Immigration and the Selection of Natives across Occupations and Locations," IZA Discussion Papers 10303, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Pauline Charnoz & Elise Coudin & Mathilde Gaini, 2014. "Forty Years of Decreasing Wage Inequality in France : The Role of Supply and Hidden Skill-Biased Technical Change," Working Papers 2014-20, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    13. Cristiana Benedetti-Fasil & Giammario Impullitti & Omar Licandro & Petr Sedlacek, 2021. "Heterogeneous Firms, R&D Policies and the Long Shadow of Business Cycles," JRC Working Papers on Territorial Modelling and Analysis 2021-04, Joint Research Centre (Seville site).
    14. Havranek, Tomas & Irsova, Zuzana & Laslopova, Lubica & Zeynalova, Olesia, 2020. "Skilled and Unskilled Labor Are Less Substitutable than Commonly Thought," EconStor Preprints 223060, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    15. Chantreuil, Frédéric & Lebon, Isabelle, 2015. "Gender contribution to income inequality," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 27-30.
    16. Anthony Edo & Farid Toubal, 2015. "Selective Immigration Policies and Wages Inequality," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 160-187, February.
    17. Michael Chletsos & Stelios Roupakias, 2020. "Education and wage inequality before and during the fiscal crisis: A quantile regression analysis for Greece 2006–2016," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 1333-1364, November.
    18. Emmanuel Duguet & Yannick L'horty & Florent Sari, 2023. "Agglomeration effects and unemployment to work: Evidence from French data," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 102(1), pages 129-166, February.
    19. Pora, Pierre & Wilner, Lionel, 2020. "A decomposition of labor earnings growth: Recovering Gaussianity?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    20. Francis Kramarz & Elio Nimier‐David & Thomas Delemotte, 2022. "Inequality and earnings dynamics in France: National policies and local consequences," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(4), pages 1527-1591, November.
    21. Clément Malgouyres, 2017. "The Impact Of Chinese Import Competition On The Local Structure Of Employment And Wages: Evidence From France," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(3), pages 411-441, June.
    22. Magnac, Thierry & Roux, Sébastien, 2021. "Heterogeneity and wage inequalities over the life cycle," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    23. Marc Jourdain Muizon, 2020. "Subsidies for parental leave and formal childcare: be careful what you wish for," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 735-772, September.
    24. Hamid Boustanifar & Everett Grant & Ariell Reshef, 2016. "Wages and human capital in finance: international evidence, 1970-2005," Globalization Institute Working Papers 266, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    France; Wage inequality; Earnings inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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