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Public Sector Wage Policy and Labor Market Equilibrium: A Structural Model

Author

Listed:
  • Jake Bradley
  • Fabien Postel-Vinay

    (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CREST - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Statistique - ENSAI - Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Analyse de l'Information [Bruz] - X - École polytechnique - ENSAE Paris - École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, LEA - Laboratoire d'Economie Appliquée - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Department of Economics - UCL - University College of London [London], PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR, University of Bristol [Bristol], IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor - Institute for the Study of Labor, DELTA - Département et Laboratoire d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, INRA)

  • Hélène Turon

Abstract

We develop and estimate a structural model that incorporates a sizable public sector in a labor market with search frictions. The wage distribution and the employment rate in the public sector are taken as exogenous policy parameters. Overall wage distribution and employment rate are determined within the model, taking into account the private sector's endogenous response to public sector employment policies. Job turnover is sector specific and transitions between sectors depend on the worker's decision to accept alternative employment in the same or different sector by comparing the value of employment in the current and prospective jobs. The model is estimated on British data by a method of moments. We use the model to simulate the impact of various counterfactual public sector wage and employment policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Jake Bradley & Fabien Postel-Vinay & Hélène Turon, 2014. "Public Sector Wage Policy and Labor Market Equilibrium: A Structural Model," Working Papers hal-03429904, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-03429904
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://sciencespo.hal.science/hal-03429904
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

    1. Jofre-Monseny, Jordi & Silva, José I. & Vázquez-Grenno, Javier, 2020. "Local labor market effects of public employment," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    2. 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).
    3. Juin‐Jen Chang & Hsieh‐Yu Lin & Nora Traum & Shu‐Chun S. Yang, 2021. "Fiscal Consolidation and Public Wages," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 53(2-3), pages 503-533, March.
    4. Gomes, Pedro Maia & Kuehn, Zoë, 2019. "You’re the One That I Want! Public Employment and Women’s Labor Market Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 12702, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Cahuc, Pierre & Carcillo, Stéphane & Minea, Andreea & Valfort, Marie-Anne, 2019. "When Correspondence Studies Fail to Detect Hiring Discrimination," IZA Discussion Papers 12653, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Andri Chassamboulli & Pedro Gomes, 2021. "Jumping the queue: nepotism and public-sector pay," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 39, pages 344-366, January.
    7. Bettoni, Luis G. & Santos, Marcelo R., 2022. "Public sector employment and aggregate fluctuations," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    8. Shuaizhang Feng & Naijia Guo, 2019. "Labor Market Dynamics in Urban China and the Role of the State Sector," Working Papers 2019-008, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    9. Geromichalos, Athanasios & Kospentaris, Ioannis, 2022. "The unintended consequences of meritocratic government hiring," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    10. Rattsø, Jørn & Stokke, Hildegunn E., 2020. "Private-public wage gap and return to experience: Role of geography, gender and education," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    11. Richard Audoly, 2024. "Self-Employment and Labor Market Risks," Staff Reports 1085, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    12. Girsberger, Esther Mirjam & Meango, Romuald, 2022. "The Puzzle of Educated Unemployment in West Africa," IZA Discussion Papers 15721, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Guilherme Bandeira & Jordi Caballe & Eugenia Vella, 2019. "Fiscal Austerity and Migration: A Missing Link," Working Papers 2019009, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    14. Sebastian Heise & Tommaso Porzio, 2019. "Spatial Wage Gaps and Frictional Labor Markets," Staff Reports 898, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    15. Ketel, Nadine & Leuven, Edwin & Oosterbeek, Hessel & van der Klaauw, Bas, 2019. "Do Dutch dentists extract monopoly rents?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 145-158.
    16. Benoît Schmutz & Modibo Sidibé, 2019. "Frictional Labour Mobility," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 86(4), pages 1779-1826.
    17. Bradley, Jake & Kügler, Alice, 2019. "Labor market reforms: An evaluation of the Hartz policies in Germany," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 108-135.
    18. Jørn Rattsø & Hildegunn E Stokke, 2022. "Public sector wage compression and wage inequality: Gender and geographic heterogeneity," Working Paper Series 19522, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
    19. Feng, Shuaizhang & Guo, Naijia, 2021. "Labor market dynamics in urban China and the role of the state sector," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 918-932.
    20. Florian Hoffmann & Shouyong Shi, 2016. "Burdett-Mortensen Model of On-the-Job Search with Two Sectors," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 19, pages 108-134, January.
    21. Chassamboulli, Andri & Gomes, Pedro, 2023. "Public-sector employment, wages and education decisions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    22. Jake Bradley & Axel Gottfries, 2021. "A job ladder model with stochastic employment opportunities," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 12(4), pages 1399-1430, November.
    23. Lucas Navarro & Mauricio Tejada, 2022. "Does Public Sector Employment Buffer the Minimum Wage Effects?," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 43, pages 168-196, January.
    24. Feng, Shuaizhang & Guo, Naijia, 2019. "Labor Market Dynamics in Urban China and the Role of the State Sector," IZA Discussion Papers 12170, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    25. Michael, Maria & Christofides, Louis N., 2020. "The impact of austerity measures on the public - private sector wage gap in Europe," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Employment rate; Public sector; Labour market; Policy market;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy

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