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Skill Upgrading and Rigid Relative Wages: The Case of Danish Manufacturing

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Author Info
Skaksen, Jan Rose () (CEBR, University of Southern Denmark and IZA Bonn)
Sørensen, Anders (CEBR and SAIS, Johns Hopkins University)

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Abstract

Relative wages have been remarkably rigid for the last two decades in Danish manufacturing despite large shifts in relative employment from unskilled labor towards skilled and educated labor. Assuming capital-skill complementarity and fixed relative wages as a consequence of labor market institutions, we argue that skill upgrading is more pronounced during downturns than upturns. This prediction is supported by a high positive and significant correlation between changes in relative employment of skilled labor and changes in the unemployment rate. Furthermore, we show that international outsourcing has played an important role in explaining the shift in relative labor demand.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 664.

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Length: 25 pages
Date of creation: Dec 2002
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp664

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Related research
Keywords: rigid relative wages; skill upgrading; business cycle; outsourcing; skill biased technological changes;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
F02 - International Economics - - General - - - International Economic Order; Noneconomic International Organizations;; Economic Integration and Globalization: General
O39 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - Other

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Per Krusell & Lee E. Ohanian & Jose-Victor Rios-Rull & Giovanni L. Violante, 1997. "Capital-skill complementarity and inequality: a macroeconomic analysis," Staff Report 239, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Risager, Ole, 1993. "Labour Substitution in Denmark," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 55(1), pages 123-35, February.
  3. Blau, Francine D & Kahn, Lawrence M, 1996. "International Differences in Male Wage Inequality: Institutions versus Market Forces," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(4), pages 791-836, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Daron Acemoglu, 2002. "Cross-Country Inequality Trends," NBER Working Papers 8832, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Stephen Machin & John Van Reenen, 1998. "Technology And Changes In Skill Structure: Evidence From Seven Oecd Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 113(4), pages 1215-1244, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Arulampalam, Wiji & Booth, Alison L. & Bryan, Mark L., 2003. "Training in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 933, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Robert Feenstra & Gordon Hanson, 2001. "Global Production Sharing and Rising Inequality: A Survey of Trade and Wages," NBER Working Papers 8372, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Berman, Eli & Bound, John & Griliches, Zvi, 1994. "Changes in the Demand for Skilled Labor within U.S. Manufacturing: Evidence from the Annual Survey of Manufactures," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 109(2), pages 367-97, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. David H. Autor & Lawrence F. Katz & Alan B. Krueger, 1998. "Computing Inequality: Have Computers Changed The Labor Market?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 113(4), pages 1169-1213, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Eli Berman & John Bound & Stephen Machin, 1998. "Implications Of Skill-Biased Technological Change: International Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 113(4), pages 1245-1279, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Malchow-Møller, Nikolaj & Skaksen, Jan Rose, 2003. "Skill-Biased Technological Change in Denmark: A Disaggregate Perspective," IZA Discussion Papers 752, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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