IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/obuest/v68y2006i4p423-444.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Wage Formation, Regional Migration and Local Labour Market Tightness

Author

Listed:
  • Fredrik Carlsen
  • Kåre Johansen
  • Knut RØed

Abstract

Empirical studies of regional wage formation and interregional migration routinely include the regional unemployment rate as indicator of local labour market tightness. However, these studies are usually motivated by economic theories that emphasize transition probabilities between unemployment and employment, and the unemployment rate is an imperfect proxy for these probabilities. We use a large micro data set to compute estimates of the rate of outflow from unemployment for 90 Norwegian travel‐to‐work areas. The outflow rates perform better than traditional measures of regional labour market tightness in panel data analyses of regional wages and interregional migration.

Suggested Citation

  • Fredrik Carlsen & Kåre Johansen & Knut RØed, 2006. "Wage Formation, Regional Migration and Local Labour Market Tightness," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 68(4), pages 423-444, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:obuest:v:68:y:2006:i:4:p:423-444
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0084.2006.00171.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0084.2006.00171.x
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1468-0084.2006.00171.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ahn, N. & de la Rica, S. & Ugidos, A., 1998. "Willingness to Move for Work and Unemployment Duration in Spain," Papers 9801, Centro de Estudios Monetarios Y Financieros-.
    2. Johansen, Kare, 1996. "Insider Forces, Asymmetries, and Outsider Ineffectiveness: Empirical Evidence for Norwegian Industries 1966-87," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 48(1), pages 89-104, January.
    3. Heckman, James & Singer, Burton, 1984. "A Method for Minimizing the Impact of Distributional Assumptions in Econometric Models for Duration Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(2), pages 271-320, March.
    4. Eichengreen, Barry, 1993. "European Monetary Unification," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 31(3), pages 1321-1357, September.
    5. Frank A. G. Den Butter & Florian Eppink, 2003. "The influence of labour flows on wage drift: an empirical analysis for The Netherlands," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(3), pages 139-142.
    6. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 1995. "The Wage Curve," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026202375x, December.
    7. Fredrik Carlsen, 2000. "Testing Equilibrium Models of Regional Disparities," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 47(1), pages 1-24, February.
    8. Decressin, Jorg & Fatas, Antonio, 1995. "Regional labor market dynamics in Europe," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 1627-1655, December.
    9. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    10. Masson,Paul R. & Taylor,Mark P. (ed.), 1993. "Policy Issues in the Operation of Currency Unions," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521434553, October.
    11. Manning, Neil, 1994. "Are Higher Long-Term Unemployment Rates Associated with Lower Earnings?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 56(4), pages 383-397, November.
    12. Layard, Richard & Nickell, Stephen & Jackman, Richard, 2005. "Unemployment: Macroeconomic Performance and the Labour Market," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199279173.
    13. Larry A. Sjaastad, 1970. "The Costs and Returns of Human Migration," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Harry W. Richardson (ed.), Regional Economics, chapter 9, pages 115-133, Palgrave Macmillan.
    14. Lourens Broersma & Frank A. G. Den Butter, 2001. "Labour Flows as Determinants of the Wage–Price Spiral: An Empirical Analysis for The Netherlands," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 15(2), pages 279-294, June.
    15. Luigi Cannari & Francesco Nucci & Paolo Sestito, 2000. "Geographic labour mobility and the cost of housing: evidence from Italy," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(14), pages 1899-1906.
    16. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    17. Olivier Jean Blanchard & Lawrence F. Katz, 1992. "Regional Evolutions," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 23(1), pages 1-76.
    18. Baker, Michael & Melino, Angelo, 2000. "Duration dependence and nonparametric heterogeneity: A Monte Carlo study," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 357-393, June.
    19. Partridge, Mark D. & Rickman, Dan S., 1997. "Has the wage curve nullified the Harris-Todaro model? Further US evidence," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 277-282, July.
    20. Olivier Blanchard & Lawrence F. Katz, 1997. "What We Know and Do Not Know about the Natural Rate of Unemployment," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 51-72, Winter.
    21. Bowsher, Clive G., 2002. "On testing overidentifying restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 77(2), pages 211-220, October.
    22. Wulfsberg, Fredrik, 1997. "An Application of Wage Bargaining Models to Norwegian Panel Data," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 49(3), pages 419-440, July.
    23. Gaure, Simen & Røed, Knut, 2003. "How Tight is the Labour Market? A Micro-Based Macro Indicator," Memorandum 09/2003, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    24. Pissarides, Christopher A & Wadsworth, Jonathan, 1989. "Unemployment and the Inter-regional Mobility of Labour," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(397), pages 739-755, September.
    25. Pannenberg, Markus & Schwarze, Johannes, 1998. "Labor market slack and the wage curve," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 351-354, March.
    26. Jarkko Turunen, 1998. "Disaggregated wage curves in the United States: evidence from panel data of young workers," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(12), pages 1665-1677.
    27. Raaum, O. & Wulfsberg, F., 1995. "Unemployment, Labour Market Programmes and Wages in Norway," Memorandum 1995_024, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    28. Bratsberg, Bernt & Turunen, Jarkko, 1996. "Wage curve evidence from panel data," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 345-353, June.
    29. Fredriksson, Peter, 1999. "The Dynamics of Regional Labor Markets and Active Labor Market Policy: Swedish Evidence," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 51(4), pages 623-648, October.
    30. Dyrstad, Jan Morten & Johansen, Kare, 2000. "Regional Wage Responses to Unemployment and Profitabililty: Empirical Evidence from Norwegian Manufacturing Industries," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 62(1), pages 101-117, February.
    31. Gabriel, Stuart A. & Shack-Marquez, Janice & Wascher, William L., 1993. "Does migration arbitrage regional labor market differentials?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 211-233, April.
    32. Jan Morten Dyrstad & Kare Johansen, 2000. "Regional Wage Responses to Unemployment and Profitability: Empirical Evidence From Norwegian Manufacturing Industries," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 62(1), pages 101-117, February.
    33. Daveri, Francesco & Faini, Riccardo, 1999. "Where Do Migrants Go?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 51(4), pages 595-622, October.
    34. Bell, Brian & Nickell, Stephen & Quintini, Glenda, 2002. "Wage equations, wage curves and all that," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 341-360, July.
    35. Ahn, Namkee & de la Rica, Sara & Ugidos, Arantza, 1999. "Willingness to Move for Work and Unemployment Duration in Spain," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 66(263), pages 335-357, August.
    36. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 1995. "The Wage Curve," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026202375x, March.
    37. Hughes, Gordon & McCormick, Barry, 1994. "Did Migration in the 1980s Narrow the North-South Divide?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 61(244), pages 509-527, November.
    38. Antolin, Pablo & Bover, Olympia, 1997. "Regional Migration in Spain: The Effect of Personal Characteristics and of Unemployment, Wage and House Price Differentials Using Pooled Cross-Sections," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 59(2), pages 215-235, May.
    39. Jari Ritsila & Marko Ovaskainen, 2001. "Migration and regional centralization of human capital," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3), pages 317-325.
    40. Lourens Broersma & Frank A. G. Den Butter, 2002. "An explorative empirical analysis of the influence of labour flows on wage formation," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(13), pages 1583-1592.
    41. Edin, P.A. & Holmlund, B. & Ostros, T., 1992. "Wage Behavior and Labor Market Programs in Sweden: Evidence from Micro Data," Papers 1993-1, Uppsala - Working Paper Series.
    42. Kennedy, Steven & Borland, Jeff, 2000. "A Wage Curve for Australia?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 52(4), pages 774-803, October.
    43. Blanchflower, David G & Oswald, Andrew J, 1994. "Estimating a Wage Curve for Britain: 1973-90," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(426), pages 1025-1043, September.
    44. Neil Manning, 1994. "Are Higher Long‐Term Unemployment Rates Associated With Lower Earnings?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 56(4), pages 383-397, November.
    45. Shapiro, Carl & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1984. "Equilibrium Unemployment as a Worker Discipline Device," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(3), pages 433-444, June.
    46. Faini, Riccardo & Galli, Giampaolo & Gennari, Pietro & Rossi, Fulvio, 1997. "An empirical puzzle: Falling migration and growing unemployment differentials among Italian regions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(3-5), pages 571-579, April.
    47. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    48. Pissarides, Christopher A & McMaster, Ian, 1990. "Regional Migration, Wages and Unemployment: Empirical Evidence and Implications for Policy," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 42(4), pages 812-831, October.
    49. Wagner, Joachim, 1994. "German wage curves, 1979-1990," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 307-311.
    50. Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf, 1996. "Wage curve, unemployment duration and compensating differentials," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 425-434, December.
    51. Roger Axelsson & Olle Westerlund, 1998. "A panel study of migration, self-selection and household real income," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 11(1), pages 113-126.
    52. Janssens, Stefan & Konings, Jozef, 1998. "One more wage curve: the case of Belgium," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 223-227, August.
    53. Jackman, Richard & Savouri, Savvas, 1992. "Regional Migration in Britain: An Analysis of Gross Flows Using NHS Central Register Data," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 102(415), pages 1433-1450, 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. Ipek Ilkkaracan & Haluk Levent & Sezgin Polat, 2013. "Exploring different measures of wage flexibility in a developing economy context: the case for Turkey," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(3), pages 297-315, May.
    2. Falch, Torberg & Johansen, Kåre & Strøm, Bjarne, 2009. "Teacher shortages and the business cycle," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 648-658, December.
    3. Kristine Simson, 2015. "Explaining upper secondary school dropout: new evidence on the role of local labor markets," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 1419-1444, June.
    4. Ekhaugen, Tyra, 2007. "Long-term Outcomes of Vocational Rehabilitation Programs: Labor Market Transitions and Job Durations for Immigrants," Memorandum 10/2007, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    5. Fredrik Carlsen & Kåre Johansen & Lasse Sigbjørn Stambøl, 2013. "Effects of Regional Labour Markets on Migration Flows, by Education Level," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 27(1), pages 80-92, March.
    6. Cindy Biesenbeek, 2022. "The Effect of Unemployment on Interregional Migration in the Netherlands," Working Papers 753, DNB.
    7. Carlsen, Fredrik & Johansen, Kare, 2005. "Regional wages and subjective measures of employment opportunities," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 377-400, May.
    8. Simonetta Longhi, 2012. "Job Competition and the Wage Curve," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(5), pages 611-620, August.
    9. Jani-Petri Laamanen, 2014. "Worker Turnover, Structural Change, and Inter-Regional Migration: Evidence from Finland," Finnish Economic Papers, Finnish Economic Association, vol. 27(1), pages 34-55, Autumn.

    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. Carlsen, Fredrik & Johansen, Kare, 2005. "Regional wages and subjective measures of employment opportunities," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 377-400, May.
    2. 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.
    3. Kåre Johansen, 2002. "Regional Wage Curves Empirical Evidence from Norway," Working Paper Series 0302, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
    4. Fredrik Carlsen & Kåre Johansen, 2004. "Subjective Measures of Employment Opportunities and Interregional Migration," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 18(4), pages 563-589, December.
    5. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 2005. "The Wage Curve Reloaded," NBER Working Papers 11338, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Inmaculada Garcia-Mainar & Victor Montuenga-Gomez, 2003. "The Spanish Wage Curve: 1994-1996," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(9), pages 929-945.
    7. Peter Nijkamp & Jacques Poot, 2005. "The Last Word on the Wage Curve?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 421-450, July.
    8. Victor Montuenga & Inmaculada Garcia, 2011. "The wage dynamics in Spain: evidence from individual data," ERSA conference papers ersa11p585, European Regional Science Association.
    9. Jakob B. Madsen, 2009. "The Dynamics Of Labour'S Income Shares And The Wage Curve–Phillips Curve Controversy," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 56(1), pages 45-72, February.
    10. García-Mainar , Inmaculada & Montuenga-Gómez , Víctor M., 2012. "Wage dynamics in Spain: evidence from individual data (1994-2001)," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 24, pages 41-58.
    11. Björn Alecke & Timo Mitze & Gerhard Untiedt, 2010. "Internal migration, regional labour market dynamics and implications for German East-West disparities: results from a Panel VAR," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 30(2), pages 159-189, September.
    12. Fredrik Carlsen, 2001. "Migration, Local Fiscal Variables and Local Economic Conditions," CESifo Working Paper Series 553, CESifo.
    13. Barth, Erling & Bratsberg, Bernt & Naylor, Robin A. & Raaum, Oddbjørn, 2002. "Explaining Variations in Wage Curves: Theory and Evidence," Memorandum 03/2002, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    14. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Tobias D. Ketterer, 2012. "Do Local Amenities Affect The Appeal Of Regions In Europe For Migrants?," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(4), pages 535-561, October.
    15. Iara, Anna & Traistaru, Iulia, 2004. "How flexible are wages in EU accession countries?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 431-450, August.
    16. Hynninen, Sanna-Mari, 2009. "Is there a wage curve for the highly educated?," ISER Working Paper Series 2009-17, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    17. 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.
    18. Timo MITZE & Björn ALECKE & Gerhard UNTIEDT, 2008. "Determinants of Interregional Migration Among German States and its Implications for Reducing East-West Disparities: Results from a Panel VAR Using Efficient GMM Estimation," EcoMod2008 23800089, EcoMod.
    19. Roberto Bande Ramudo & Melchor Fernández Fernández & Víctor Montuenga Gómez, 2011. "Wage flexibility and local labour markets: homogeneity of the wage curve in Spain," Documentos de trabajo - Analise Economica 0044, IDEGA - Instituto Universitario de Estudios e Desenvolvemento de Galicia.
    20. David Castro Lugo, 2006. "Curva salarial: una aplicación para el caso de México, 1993-2002," Estudios Económicos, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos, vol. 21(2), pages 233-273.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

    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:bla:obuest:v:68:y:2006:i:4:p:423-444. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sfeixuk.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.