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Are Temporary Workers Discriminated Against? Evidence from Europe

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  • Simona COMI
  • Mara GRASSENI

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse the wage gap between temporary and permanent jobs in 12 European countries. We use the semi-parametric (quantile regression) approach and evaluate the wage gap across the entire wage distribution. We show that the fixed-term wage gap decreases as higher quantiles are considered, and that having a fixed-term contract penalizes low–skilled workers (at the bottom of the earnings distribution) more than high–skilled ones. Finally, we decompose the wage differential across the entire wage distribution in order to account for the relative importance of observed characteristics versus different returns to skills. We find that workers with the same characteristics as temporary workers would receive higher wages if they worked on permanent contracts in almost all the countries considered, and that this finding is stable across? the entire wage distribution.

Suggested Citation

  • Simona COMI & Mara GRASSENI, 2009. "Are Temporary Workers Discriminated Against? Evidence from Europe," CHILD Working Papers wp17_09, CHILD - Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic economics - ITALY.
    • Handle: RePEc:wpc:wplist:wp17_09
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    File URL: http://www.child.carloalberto.org/images/wp/child17_2009.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Temporary jobs; fixed-term contracts; wage differentials; quantile regression; decomposition.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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