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Public-Sector Employment, Wages and Human Capital Accumulation

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Listed:
  • Andri Chassamboulli
  • Pedro Gomes

Abstract

We set up a search and matching model with a private and a public sector to understand the effects of employment and wage policies in the public sector on unemployment and education decisions. The effects of wages and employment of skilled and unskilled public-sector workers on the educational composition of the labor force depend crucially on the structure of the labor market. An increase of skilled public-sector wages has a small positive impact on educational composition and larger negative impact on the private employment of skilled workers, if the two sectors are segmented. If search across the two sectors is random, it has a large positive impact on education and a large positive impact on skilled private employment. We highlight the usefulness of the model for policymakers by calculating the value of public-sector job security for skilled and unskilled workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Andri Chassamboulli & Pedro Gomes, 2019. "Public-Sector Employment, Wages and Human Capital Accumulation," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 07-2019, University of Cyprus Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucy:cypeua:07-2019
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    File URL: https://papers.econ.ucy.ac.cy/RePEc/papers/07-19.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Fontaine, Idriss & Gálvez-Iniesta, Ismael & Gomes, Pedro & Vila-Martin, Diego, 2020. "Labour market flows: Accounting for the public sector," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    2. Geromichalos, Athanasios & Kospentaris, Ioannis, 2022. "The unintended consequences of meritocratic government hiring," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    3. Nadeem Ul Haque & Durr-e-Nayab & Omer Siddique & Naseem Faraz, 2021. "Cash Poor, Perk Rich! Civil Service Compensation: Incentives, Dissatisfaction, And Costs," PIDE Research Report 2021:8, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    4. 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).
    5. Bettoni, Luis G. & Santos, Marcelo R., 2022. "Public sector employment and aggregate fluctuations," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public-sector employment; public-sector wages; unemployment; skilled workers; human capital accumulation; education decision; public-sector job security premium;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • 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
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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