IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/may/mayecw/n1421004.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Public-Private Wage Differentials in Ireland, 1994-2001

Author

Listed:
  • Gerry Boyle

    (National University of Ireland, Maynooth)

  • Rory McElligott

    (National University of Ireland, Maynooth)

  • Jim O'Leary

    (National University of Ireland, Maynooth)

Abstract

Are public sector workers in Ireland paid more than private sector employees, when such differences in productivity-related personal attributes and job characteristics are controlled for? We estimate that in 2001 the premium enjoyed by public servants was about 13 per cent. We find that the premium, is significantly bigger for those near the bottom of the earnings distribution than for those near the top, was significantly bigger for women than men in the mid-1990s but not at the end of the 1990s, and does not vary significantly across different levels of educational attainment. We estimate the premium for 2001 to be not significantly different from that estimated for 1994 despite this period a period of exceptionally rapid output and employment growth, and correspondingly sharp tightening of labour market conditions in the Irish economy. The most remarkable difference between our results and those of other researchers for other countries relates to the absolute size of the premium. A number of possible explanations for this difference are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Gerry Boyle & Rory McElligott & Jim O'Leary, 2004. "Public-Private Wage Differentials in Ireland, 1994-2001," Economics Department Working Paper Series n1421004, Department of Economics, National University of Ireland - Maynooth.
    • Handle: RePEc:may:mayecw:n1421004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://repec.maynoothuniversity.ie/mayecw-files/N1421004.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Freeman, Richard B, 1984. "Longitudinal Analyses of the Effects of Trade Unions," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(1), pages 1-26, January.
    2. J.-Matthias Graf Schulenburg, 2002. "Commentary," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 3(2), pages 138-138, June.
    3. Duffy, David & FitzGerald, John & Kennedy, Kieran A. & Smyth, Diarmaid, 2000. "Quarterly Economic Commentary, March 2000," Forecasting Report, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number QEC20001, June.
    4. 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.
    5. Casey, Barra, 2004. "An Economy-Wide Perspective on Earnings Data in Ireland," Quarterly Economic Commentary: Special Articles, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), vol. 2004(1-Spring), pages 1-22.
    6. 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.
    7. James M. Poterba & Kim S. Rueben, 1994. "The Distribution of Public Sector Wage Premia: New Evidence Using Quantile Regression Methods," NBER Working Papers 4734, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Denis Conniffe & Vanessa Gash & Philip J. O'Connell, 2000. "Evaluating State Programmes - “Natural Experiments” and Propensity Scores," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 31(4), pages 283-308.
    9. Blaise Melly, 2005. "Public-private sector wage differentials in Germany: Evidence from quantile regression," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 505-520, September.
    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. Philip O’Connell, 2013. "Cautious adjustment in a context of economic collapse: The public sector in the Irish crises," Chapters, in: Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead (ed.), Public Sector Shock, chapter 9, pages 337-370, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Tim Callan & Brian Nolan & John Walsh, 2011. "The Economic Crisis, Public Sector Pay and the Income Distribution," Research in Labor Economics, in: Who Loses in the Downturn? Economic Crisis, Employment and Income Distribution, pages 207-225, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    3. Jakub Picka, 2014. "Problém "public-private pay gap" v České republice [The Public-Private Pay Gap in the Czech Republic]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2014(5), pages 662-682.
    4. Niamh Hardiman, 2006. "Politics and Social Partnership - Flexible Network Governance," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 37(3), pages 343-374.
    5. Maria Manuel Campos & Mário Centeno, 2011. "Public-private wage gaps in the period prior to the adoption of the euro: an application based on longitudinal data," Economic Bulletin and Financial Stability Report Articles and Banco de Portugal Economic Studies, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    6. Boyle, Gerry & McElligott, Rory & O'Leary, Jim, 2004. "Public-Private Wage Differentials in Ireland, 1994-2001," Quarterly Economic Commentary: Special Articles, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), vol. 2004(2-Summer), pages 1-23.
    7. Kelly, Eilish & McGuinness, Seamus & O'Connell, Philip, 2009. "Benchmarking, Social Partnership and Higher Remuneration: Wage Settling Institutions and the Public-Private Sector Wage Gap in Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 40(3), pages 339-370.
    8. Kelly, Elish & McGuinness, Seamus & O'Connell, Philip J., 2013. "Comparing Public and Private Sector Pay in Ireland: Size Matters," Research Notes RN2012/4/2, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    9. Gorecki, Paul K., 2009. "The Recession, Budgets, Competition, and Regulation: Should the State Supply Bespoke Protection?," Papers BP2010/2, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    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. repec:esr:chaptr:jacb200962 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. repec:esr:wpaper:rn2012/4/2 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Raffaela Giordano & Manuel Coutinho Pereira & Domenico Depalo & Bruno Eugène & Evangelia Papapetrou & Javier J. Pérez & Lukas Reiss & Mojca Roter, 2014. "The Public Sector Pay Gap in a Selection of Euro Area Countries in the Pre-crisis Period," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 214(3), pages 11-34, September.
    16. International Monetary Fund, 2004. "Ireland: Selected Issues," IMF Staff Country Reports 2004/349, International Monetary Fund.

    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. Boyle, Gerry & McElligott, Rory & O'Leary, Jim, 2004. "Public-Private Wage Differentials in Ireland, 1994-2001," Quarterly Economic Commentary: Special Articles, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), vol. 2004(2-Summer), pages 1-23.
    2. 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.
    3. Disney, Richard F & Gosling, Amanda, 2003. "A New Method for Estimating Public Sector Pay Premia: Evidence from Britain in the 1990's," CEPR Discussion Papers 3787, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. Paolo Ghinetti & Claudio Lucifora, 2008. "Public Sector Pay Gaps and Skill Levels: a Cross-Country Comparison," Working Papers 118, SEMEQ Department - Faculty of Economics - University of Eastern Piedmont.
    7. Santiago Budria, 2010. "Schooling and the distribution of wages in the European private and public sectors," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(8), pages 1045-1054.
    8. 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.
    9. Kristjan-Olari Leping, 2005. "Public-Private Sector Wage Differential In Estonia: Evidence From Quantile Regression," University of Tartu - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Working Paper Series 39, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu (Estonia).
    10. Elisa Birch, 2006. "The public-private sector earnings gap; in Australia: a quantile regression approach," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 9(2), pages 99-123, June.
    11. 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).
    12. Alejandra Mizala & Pilar Romaguera & Sebastian Gallegos, 2010. "Public-Private Wage Gap In Latin America (1999-2007): A Matching Approach," Documentos de Trabajo 268, Centro de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Chile.
    13. repec:pra:mprapa:48888 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Lixin Cai & Amy Y.C. Liu, 2008. "Public-Private Wage Gap in Australia: Variation Along the Distribution," CEPR Discussion Papers 581, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    15. Clare Leaver & Gian Luigi Albano & University College London and ELSE, 2004. "Transparency, Recruitment and Retention in the Public Sector," Economics Series Working Papers 219, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    16. Maria Manuel Campos & Mário Centeno, 2011. "Public-private wage gaps in the period prior to the adoption of the euro: an application based on longitudinal data," Economic Bulletin and Financial Stability Report Articles and Banco de Portugal Economic Studies, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    17. Chandan Kumar Mohanty & Smrutirekha Mohanty, 2019. "Public–Private Wage Gap in the Indian Mining and Quarrying Industry," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 13(2), pages 232-253, May.
    18. Morikawa, Masayuki, 2016. "A comparison of the wage structure between the public and private sectors in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 73-90.
    19. 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.
    20. Zhuravleva, Tatiana (Журавлева, Татьяна), 2015. "Analysis of the Factors of Wages Differentiation in the Public and Private Sectors of the Russian Economy [Анализ Факторов Дифференциации Заработной Платы В Государственном И Частном Секторах Эконо," Published Papers mn10, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
    21. Maczulskij, Terhi, 2013. "Public–private sector wage differentials and the business cycle," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 284-301.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    public; private; wage; differentials; Ireland;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • 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

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:may:mayecw:n1421004. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/demayie.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.