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The UK Wage Curve: New Evidence from the British Household Panel Survey

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  • Bill Collier

Abstract

This paper investigates the UK wage curve using longitudinal micro data drawn from the first eight waves of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). We estimate a fixed-effects model that controls for observed and unobserved individual-specific heterogeneity. Our results suggest that there is evidence of a negative relationship in wage-unemployment space. The estimated unemployment elasticity of pay for UK males is approximately ?0.14 and this elasticity is robust to a number of alternative specifications. There is no evidence of a significant wage curve for women. These findings are consistent with panel studies reported for other countries. They contrast with previous studies for the UK, however, in that they reject the inclusion of higher order polynomial terms for unemployment. The main findings of the paper, therefore, are that the wage-unemployment relationship is robust but not as non-linear as has been previously thought.

Suggested Citation

  • Bill Collier, 2000. "The UK Wage Curve: New Evidence from the British Household Panel Survey," Studies in Economics 0010, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    • Handle: RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:0010
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    2. Esteban Sanroma & Raul Ramos, 2005. "Further Evidence on Disaggregated Wage Curves: The Case of Spain," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 8(3), pages 227-243, September.
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    4. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 2005. "The Wage Curve Reloaded," NBER Working Papers 11338, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    6. Deller, Steven C., 2009. "Wages, Rent, Unemployment and Amenities," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 39(2), pages 1-14.
    7. Víctor M. Montuenga‐Gómez & José M. Ramos‐Parreño, 2005. "Reconciling the Wage Curve and the Phillips Curve," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(5), pages 735-765, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wage Structure; Wage Curve; Panel data; Unemployment; Regional Labour Markets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General

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