IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/jku/econwp/2015_10.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Public-Private Sector Wage Differentials in Spain. An Updated Picture in the Midst of the Great Recession

Author

Listed:
  • José-Ignacio Antón
  • Rafael MUÑOZ DE BUSTILLO

Abstract

Using the recent Wage Structure Survey 2010, this article examines the public-private sector wage gaps in Spain along the whole earnings distribution and the incidence of the gender gap in both sectors of the economy. Firstly, we find that that there is positive wage premium to public sector employment that is not fully explained by employees’ observable characteristics. Furthermore, this premium concentrates on lowskilled workers, while high-skilled individuals in the public sector suffer a pay penalty. Secondly, the gender gap is substantially larger in the private sector. Lastly, we analyse what happens in some specific activities, Education and Human health and social work, where both public and private sector coexist to a large extent. We discuss several explanations for these findings, which are coherent with the available international evidence, and the possible implications of the current process of downsizing of public sector employment associated with austerity measures.

Suggested Citation

  • José-Ignacio Antón & Rafael MUÑOZ DE BUSTILLO, 2015. "Public-Private Sector Wage Differentials in Spain. An Updated Picture in the Midst of the Great Recession," Economics working papers 2015-10, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    • Handle: RePEc:jku:econwp:2015_10
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.econ.jku.at/papers/2015/wp1510.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fabien Postel-Vinay & Hélène Turon, 2007. "The Public Pay Gap in Britain: Small Differences That (Don't?) Matter," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(523), pages 1460-1503, October.
    2. Bargain, Olivier & Melly, Blaise, 2008. "Public Sector Pay Gap in France: New Evidence Using Panel Data," IZA Discussion Papers 3427, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. DiNardo, John & Fortin, Nicole M & Lemieux, Thomas, 1996. "Labor Market Institutions and the Distribution of Wages, 1973-1992: A Semiparametric Approach," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(5), pages 1001-1044, September.
    4. Hugo Ñopo, 2008. "Matching as a Tool to Decompose Wage Gaps," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(2), pages 290-299, May.
    5. Raquel Carrasco & Juan Jimeno & A. Ortega, 2008. "The effect of immigration on the labor market performance of native-born workers: some evidence for Spain," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 21(3), pages 627-648, July.
    6. Hartog, Joop & Oosterbeek, Hessel, 1993. "Public and private sector wages in the Netherlands," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 97-114, January.
    7. Fortin, Nicole & Lemieux, Thomas & Firpo, Sergio, 2011. "Decomposition Methods in Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 1, pages 1-102, Elsevier.
    8. Holmlund, Bertil, 1993. "Wage setting in private and public sectors in a model with endogenous government behavior," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 149-162, May.
    9. Javier Gardeazabal & Arantza Ugidos, 2005. "Gender wage discrimination at quantiles," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 18(1), pages 165-179, July.
    10. Oaxaca, Ronald, 1973. "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 14(3), pages 693-709, October.
    11. Sara Rica & Juan Dolado & Vanesa Llorens, 2008. "Ceilings or floors? Gender wage gaps by education in Spain," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 21(3), pages 751-776, July.
    12. J. Ignacio Garcia‐Perez & Juan F. Jimeno, 2007. "Public Sector Wage Gaps In Spanish Regions," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 75(4), pages 501-531, July.
    13. Keith A. Bender, 1998. "The Central Government‐Private Sector Wage Differential," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(2), pages 177-220, April.
    14. Claudio Lucifora & Dominique Meurs, 2006. "The Public Sector Pay Gap In France, Great Britain And Italy," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 52(1), pages 43-59, March.
    15. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769.
    16. Douglas Staiger & James H. Stock, 1997. "Instrumental Variables Regression with Weak Instruments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(3), pages 557-586, May.
    17. Pérez, Javier J. & Giordano, Raffaela & Depalo, Domenico & Coutinho Pereira, Manuel & Eugène, Bruno & Papapetrou, Evangelia & Reiss, Lukas & Roter, Mojca, 2011. "The public sector pay gap in a selection of Euro area countries," Working Paper Series 1406, European Central Bank.
    18. Hospido, Laura & Moral-Benito, Enrique, 2016. "The public sector wage premium in Spain: Evidence from longitudinal administrative data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 101-122.
    19. David McKenzie & John Gibson & Steven Stillman, 2010. "How Important Is Selection? Experimental vs. Non-Experimental Measures of the Income Gains from Migration," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 8(4), pages 913-945, June.
    20. Alan S. Blinder, 1973. "Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 8(4), pages 436-455.
    21. Domenico Depalo & Raffaella Giordano, 2011. "The public-private pay gap: a robust quantile approach," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 70(1), pages 25-64, January.
    22. José Mata & José A. F. Machado, 2005. "Counterfactual decomposition of changes in wage distributions using quantile regression," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(4), pages 445-465.
    23. José-Ignacio Antón & Rafael Muñoz de Bustillo & Miguel Carrera, 2012. "Raining stones? Female immigrants in the Spanish labour market," Estudios de Economia, University of Chile, Department of Economics, vol. 39(1 Year 20), pages 53-86, June.
    24. Richard Disney & Amanda Gosling, 1998. "Does it pay to work in the public sector?," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 19(4), pages 347-374, November.
    25. Blaise Melly & Patrick A. Puhani, 2013. "Do Public Ownership And Lack Of Competition Matter For Wages And Employment? Evidence From Personnel Records Of A Privatized Firm," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 918-944, August.
    26. Mizala, Alejandra & Romaguera, Pilar & Gallegos, Sebastián, 2011. "Public–private wage gap in Latin America (1992–2007): A matching approach," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(S1), pages 115-131.
    27. Axel Heitmueller, 2006. "Public-private sector pay differentials in a devolved Scotland," Journal of Applied Economics, Universidad del CEMA, vol. 9, pages 295-323, November.
    28. Melly, Blaise, 2005. "Decomposition of differences in distribution using quantile regression," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 577-590, August.
    29. James Albrecht & Anders Bjorklund & Susan Vroman, 2003. "Is There a Glass Ceiling in Sweden?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(1), pages 145-177, January.
    30. Gérard Lassibille, 1998. "Wage gaps between the public and private sectors in Spain [L'écart des salaires entre le secteur public et le secteur privé en Espagne]," Post-Print halshs-01267417, HAL.
    31. van der Gaag, Jacques & Vijverberg, Wim, 1988. "A Switching Regression Model for Wage Determinants in the Public and Private Sectors of a Developing Country," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(2), pages 244-252, May.
    32. Gregory, Robert G. & Borland, Jeff, 1999. "Recent developments in public sector labor markets," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 53, pages 3573-3630, Elsevier.
    33. Alba-Ramirez, Alfonso & San Segundo, Maria Jesus, 1995. "The returns to education in Spain," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 155-166, June.
    34. Lassibille, Gerard, 1998. "Wage Gaps Between the Public and Private Sectors in Spain," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 83-92, February.
    35. Maria Manuel Campos, 2012. "Public-private wage gaps in the period prior to the adoption of the euro: an application based on longitudinal data," Working Papers w201201, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    36. Lixin Cai & Amy Y. C. Liu, 2011. "Public–Private Sector Wage Gap in Australia: Variation along the Distribution," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 49(2), pages 362-390, June.
    37. González, Libertad & Ortega, Francesc, 2011. "How do very open economies adjust to large immigration flows? Evidence from Spanish regions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 57-70, January.
    38. Rafael Mu-oz de Bustillo & José-Ignacio Antón, 2013. "Those were the days, my friend: The public sector and the economic crisis in Spain," Chapters, in: Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead (ed.), Public Sector Shock, chapter 13, pages 511-542, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    39. Oaxaca, Ronald L. & Ransom, Michael R., 1994. "On discrimination and the decomposition of wage differentials," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 5-21, March.
    40. Blaise Melly, 2005. "Public-private sector wage differentials in Germany: Evidence from quantile regression," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 505-520, September.
    41. Axel Heitmueller, 2006. "Public-Private Sector Pay Differentials in a Devolved Scotland," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 295-323, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Manuel Arellano & Stéphane Bonhomme & Micole De Vera & Laura Hospido & Siqi Wei, 2022. "Income risk inequality: Evidence from Spanish administrative records," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(4), pages 1747-1801, November.
    2. Ana Luíza Matos Oliveira & Magali N. Alloatti, 2022. "Gendering the crisis: austerity and the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(1), pages 203-224, April.
    3. 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).
    4. Nuria Sánchez-Sánchez & Adolfo C. Fernández Puente, 2021. "Public Versus Private Job Satisfaction. Is there a Trade-off between Wages and Stability?," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 47-67, March.
    5. Giannina Vaccaro & Maria Pia Basurto & Arlette Beltrán & Mariano Montoya, 2022. "The Gender Wage Gap in Peru: Drivers, Evolution, and Heterogeneities," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(1), pages 19-34.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:pra:mprapa:48888 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Jelena Lausev, 2014. "WHAT HAS 20 YEARS OF PUBLIC–PRIVATE PAY GAP LITERATURE TOLD US? EASTERN EUROPEAN TRANSITIONING vs. DEVELOPED ECONOMIES," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 516-550, July.
    3. Raúl Ramos & Esteban Sanromá & Hipólito Simón, 2014. "Public-Private Sector Wage Differentials by Type of Contract: Evidence from Spain," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 208(1), pages 107-141, March.
    4. Raúl Ramos & Esteban Sanromá & Hipólito Simón, 2014. "Public-Private Sector Wage Differentials by Type of Contract: Evidence from Spain," Hacienda Pública Española, IEF, vol. 208(1), pages 107-141, March.
    5. Domenico Depalo & Raffaela Giordano & Evangelia Papapetrou, 2015. "Public–private wage differentials in euro-area countries: evidence from quantile decomposition analysis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 985-1015, November.
    6. Tansel, Aysit & Keskin, Halil Ibrahim & Ozdemir, Zeynel Abidin, 2008. "Public versus Private Sector Wage Gap in Egypt: Evidence from Quantile Regression on Panel Data," MPRA Paper 89540, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Tansel, Aysit & Keskin, Halil Ibrahim & Ozdemir, Zeynel Abidin, 2020. "Public-private sector wage gap by gender in Egypt: Evidence from quantile regression on panel data, 1998–2018," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    8. Tansel, Aysit & Keskin, Halil Ibrahim & Ozdemir, Zeynel Abidin, 2008. "Public versus Private Sector Wage Gap in Egypt: Evidence from Quantile Regression on Panel Data," MPRA Paper 89540, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Vladimir Gimpelson & Anna Lukiyanova & Anna Sharunina, 2015. "Estimating the Public-Private Wage Gap in Russia: What Does Quantile Regression Tell Us?," HSE Working papers WP BRP 104/EC/2015, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    10. Louis Christofides & Maria Michael, 2013. "Exploring the public-private sector wage gap in European countries," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-53, December.
    11. Nikolic, Jelena & Rubil, Ivica & Tomić, Iva, 2017. "Pre-crisis reforms, austerity measures and the public-private wage gap in two emerging economies," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 248-265.
    12. Hospido, Laura & Moral-Benito, Enrique, 2016. "The public sector wage premium in Spain: Evidence from longitudinal administrative data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 101-122.
    13. Rebekka Christopoulou & Vassilis Monastiriotis, 2014. "The Greek Public Sector Wage Premium before the Crisis: Size, Selection and Relative Valuation of Characteristics," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 52(3), pages 579-602, September.
    14. Philip Murphy & David Blackaby & Nigel O'Leary & Anita Staneva, 2020. "Understanding What Has Been Happening to the Public‐Sector Pay Premium in Great Britain: A Distributional Approach Based on the Labour Force Survey," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 58(2), pages 273-300, June.
    15. Philippe Van Kerm, 2013. "Generalized measures of wage differentials," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 465-482, August.
    16. Sloczynski, Tymon, 2015. "Average Wage Gaps and Oaxaca–Blinder Decompositions," IZA Discussion Papers 9036, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Carolina Castagnetti & Luisa Rosti & Marina Töpfer, 2019. "The Public-Private Sector Wage Differential Across Gender in Italy: a New Quantile-Based Decomposition Approach," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(4), pages 2533-2539.
    18. Gabriela Grotkowska & Leszek Wincenciak, 2014. "Public sector wage premium in Poland: can it be explained by structural differences in employment?," Ekonomia journal, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, vol. 38.
    19. Zhu, Rong, 2016. "Wage differentials between urban residents and rural migrants in urban China during 2002–2007: A distributional analysis," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 2-14.
    20. Nicholas Barton & Tessa Bold & Justin Sandefur, 2017. "Measuring Rents from Public Employment: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from Kenya - Working Paper 457," Working Papers 457, Center for Global Development.
    21. Bold, Tessa & Barton, Nicholas & Sandefur, Justin, 2017. "Measuring Rents from Public Employment: Regression discontinuity evidence from Kenya," CEPR Discussion Papers 12105, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    wage gap; public sector; gender gap; quantile regression;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:jku:econwp:2015_10. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: René Böheim (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vlinzat.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.