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Wage adjustment and productivity shocks

Author

Listed:
  • Carlsson, Mikael

    (Research Department, Sveriges Riksbank)

  • Messin, Julián

    (Office of the Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean,)

  • Nordström Skans, Oskar

    (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies)

Abstract

We study how workers’ wages respond to TFP-driven innovations in firms’labor productivity. Using unique data with highly reliable firm-level output prices and quantities in the manufacturing sector in Sweden, we are able to derive measures of physical (as opposed to revenue) TFP to instrument labor productivity in the wage equations. We find that the reaction of wages to sectoral labor productivity is almost three times larger than the response to pure idiosyncratic (firm-level) shocks, a result which crucially hinges on the use of physical TFP as an instrument. These results are all robust to a number of empirical specifications, including models accounting for selection on both the demand and supply side through worker-firm (match) fixed effects. Further results suggest that technological progress at the firm level has negligible effects on the firm-level composition of employees.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlsson, Mikael & Messin, Julián & Nordström Skans, Oskar, 2011. "Wage adjustment and productivity shocks," Working Paper Series, Center for Labor Studies 2011:14, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:uulswp:2011_014
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Matched employer-employee data; sorting; wage; labor productivity; TFP;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods

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