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Performance, Seniority and Wages: Formal Salary Systems and Individual Earnings Profiles

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Author Info
Dohmen, Thomas J. () (IZA Bonn)

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Abstract

This paper replicates studies by Medoff and Abraham (1980, 1981) and Flabbi and Ichino (2001) using personnel data from the Dutch national aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It shows how a formal salary system, as is widely used by large firms, brings about that seniority-wage profiles are largely independent of controls for reported performance in cross-sectional wage regressions even though supervisors' evaluations shape life-cycle earnings profiles. Performance ratings determine how fast a worker climbs the firm's career and wage ladder. The paper also reveals that real wage growth depends on the employer's prosperity. Furthermore it demonstrates that formal salary systems cause serial correlation in wage growth and `Green Card' effects.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 935.

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Length: 35 pages
Date of creation: Nov 2003
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp935

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Related research
Keywords: formal salary systems returns to seniority internal labor markets personnel economics

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
M52 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting - - Personnel Economics - - - Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects
J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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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. Demougin, Dominique & Siow, Aloysius, 1994. "Careers in Ongoing Hierarchies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(5), pages 1261-77, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Harris, Milton & Holstrom, Bengt, 1982. "A Theory of Wage Dynamics," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 49(3), pages 315-33, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Lazear, Edward P & Rosen, Sherwin, 1981. "Rank-Order Tournaments as Optimum Labor Contracts," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(5), pages 841-64, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Stephanie Lluis, . "The Role of Comparative Advantage and Learning in Wage Dynamics and Intra-Firm Mobility: Evidence from Germany," Working Papers 0103, Industrial Relations Center, University of Minnesota (Twin Cities Campus). [Downloadable!]
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  5. Prendergast, Canice, 1993. "The Role of Promotion in Inducing Specific Human Capital Acquisition," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 108(2), pages 523-34, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Ariga, Kenn & Ohkusa, Yasushi & Brunello, Giorgio, 1999. "Fast track: is it in the genes? The promotion policy of a large Japanese firm," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 385-402, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Gibbs, Michael, 1995. "Incentive compensation in a corporate hierarchy," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 247-277, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Flabbi, Luca & Ichino, Andrea, 2001. "Productivity, seniority and wages: new evidence from personnel data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 359-387, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Rosen, Sherwin, 1986. "Prizes and Incentives in Elimination Tournaments," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(4), pages 701-15, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Thomas J. Dohmen & Ben Kriechel & Gerard A. Pfann, 2004. "Monkey bars and ladders: The importance of lateral and vertical job mobility in internal labor market careers," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 193-228, 06. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Treble, John & van Gameren, Edwin & Bridges, Sarah & Barmby, Tim, 2001. "The internal economics of the firm: further evidence from personnel data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(5), pages 531-552, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Dohmen, Thomas J. & Pfann, Gerard A., 2000. "Worker Separations in a Nonstationary Corporate Environment," IZA Discussion Papers 201, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  13. Medoff, James L & Abraham, Katharine G, 1980. "Experience, Performance, and Earnings," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 95(4), pages 703-36, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Katharine G. Abraham & Henry S. Farber, 1987. "Job Duration, Seniority, and Earnings," NBER Working Papers 1819, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Robert Gibbons & Lawrence F. Katz & Thomas Lemieux & Daniel Parent, 2002. "Comparative Advantage, Learning, and Sectoral Wage Determination," NBER Working Papers 8889, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Judith K. Hellerstein & David Neumark & Kenneth R. Troske, 1996. "Wages, Productivity, and Worker Characteristics: Evidence from Plant-Level Production Functions and Wage Equations," NBER Working Papers 5626, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  17. Altonji, Joseph G & Shakotko, Robert A, 1987. "Do Wages Rise with Job Seniority?," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(3), pages 437-59, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Topel, Robert H, 1991. "Specific Capital, Mobility, and Wages: Wages Rise with Job Seniority," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(1), pages 145-76, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  19. Lazear, Edward P, 1979. "Why Is There Mandatory Retirement?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(6), pages 1261-84, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  20. Bernhardt, Dan, 1995. "Strategic Promotion and Compensation," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 62(2), pages 315-39, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Dale T. Mortensen, 1978. "Specific Capital and Labor Turnover," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 9(2), pages 572-586, Autumn. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Robert Gibbons & Michael Waldman, 1999. "A Theory Of Wage And Promotion Dynamics Inside Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 114(4), pages 1321-1358, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

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. Antonio Dias da Silva & Bas van der Klaauw, . "Wage Dynamics and Promotions inside and between Firms," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 06-084/3, Tinbergen Institute. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Lex Borghans & Ben Kriechel, 2007. "Wage Structure and Labor Mobility in the Netherlands 1999-2003," NBER Working Papers 13210, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Thomas Dohmen & Hartmut Lehmann & Mark E. Schaffer, 2008. "Wage Policies of a Russian Firm and the Financial Crisis of 1998 : Evidence from Personnel Data - 1997 to 2002," ESCIRRU Working Papers 4, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Guido Friebel & Elena Panova, 2007. "Insider Privatization and Careers - A Study of a Russian Firm in Transition," NBER Working Papers 12998, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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