IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/prg/jnlaop/v2019y2019i2id618p3-20.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Higher earnings in large firms? Employer size-wage relation in the Czech Republic

Author

Listed:
  • Diana Bílková

Abstract

Current research is primarily focused on the wage issue in the Czech Republic in relation to the size of the enterprise. This paper examines the development of wage rates in companies classified by the number of employees from the 2008 economic crisis onwards. Since the analysis and estimation of current trends in wage differentiation based exclusively on average and median wages are insufficient, moving from level characteristics to the entire frequency distribution appears justifiable. Wage distribution models based on three-parameter lognormal curves and broken down by the number of company employees were constructed to trace wage developments from the onset of the recession; the starting points of the curves represent the minimum wage in the respective year. The remaining two parameters were estimated utilising the maximum likelihood method. Having applied the curves, the proportions of employees with wages not exceeding a certain threshold were calculated. With the gross monthly wage dependence on the company size having been verified via one-way analysis of variance, the research has confirmed that large foreign firms provide the highest possible paying jobs. The average wage difference between the very large and the smallest organizations was calculated to reach almost 15,500 CZK; average wages in the latter firms representing only 55% of those earned in the former companies. As for the median wage, the difference amounts to almost 14,000 CZK. It has also been proven that an estimated 91.40% of employees in the smallest firms do not achieve the average wage, whereas in large and very large companies this share is estimated at 47.10% and 51.56%, respectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Diana Bílková, 2019. "Higher earnings in large firms? Employer size-wage relation in the Czech Republic," Acta Oeconomica Pragensia, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2019(2), pages 3-20.
  • Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlaop:v:2019:y:2019:i:2:id:618:p:3-20
    DOI: 10.18267/j.aop.618
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://aop.vse.cz/doi/10.18267/j.aop.618.html
    Download Restriction: free of charge

    File URL: http://aop.vse.cz/doi/10.18267/j.aop.618.pdf
    Download Restriction: free of charge

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.18267/j.aop.618?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Velenchik, Ann D., 1997. "Government intervention, efficiency wages, and the employer size wage effect in Zimbabwe," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 305-338, August.
    2. repec:bla:econom:v:62:y:1995:i:245:p:89-107 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Kevin T. Reilly, 1995. "Human Capital and Information: The Employer Size-Wage Effect," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 30(1), pages 1-18.
    4. Mellow, Wesley, 1982. "Employer Size and Wages," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 64(3), pages 495-501, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Strobl, Eric & Thornton, Robert, 2002. "Do Large Employers Pay More in Developing Countries? The Case of Five African Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 660, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Majumdar, Sumit K., 2010. "Institutional changes, firm size and wages in the telecommunications sector," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 201-217, July.
    3. Marcel Fafchampsm & Måns Söderbom, 2006. "Wages and Labor Management in African Manufacturing," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 41(2).
    4. Carlos Humberto Ortiz & José Ignacio Uribe & Érika Raquel Badillo, 2009. "Segmentación inter e intrarregional en el mercado laboral urbano de Colombia, 2001-2006," Revista ESPE - Ensayos Sobre Política Económica, Banco de la República, vol. 27(58), pages 194-231, August.
    5. Feng, Shuaizhang & Zheng, Bingyong, 2010. "Imperfect Information, On-the-Job Training, and the Employer Size-Wage Puzzle: Theory and Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 4998, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. William E. Even & David A. Macpherson, 2012. "Is Bigger Still Better? The Decline of the Wage Premium at Large Firms," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 78(4), pages 1181-1201, April.
    7. Adam Seth Litwin & Phillip H. Phan, 2013. "Quality over Quantity: Reexamining the Link between Entrepreneurship and Job Creation," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 66(4), pages 833-873, July.
    8. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2165-2214 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Soonae Park & Byung-Yeon Kim & Wonchang Jang & Kyung-Min Nam, 2014. "Imperfect information and labor market bias against small and medium-sized enterprises: a Korean case," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 725-741, October.
    10. Eric Strobl & Robert Thornton, 2004. "Do Large Employers Pay More? The Case Of Five Developing African Countries," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 29(1), pages 137-161, June.
    11. Miguel Marcelle & Eric Strobl, 2003. "Do Smaller Firms Pay Less in the Caribbean? The Case of Trinidad and Tobago," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(5), pages 181-198.
    12. Brown, Charles & Medoff, James, 1989. "The Employer Size-Wage Effect," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(5), pages 1027-1059, October.
    13. Feng, Shuaizhang, 2009. "Return to Training and Establishment Size: A Reexamination of the Size-Wage Puzzle," IZA Discussion Papers 4143, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Arne Bigsten & Mans Söderbom, 2006. "What Have We Learned from a Decade of Manufacturing Enterprise Surveys in Africa?," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 21(2), pages 241-265.
    15. Mark Wooden, 2001. "Union Wage Effects in the Presence of Enterprise Bargaining," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 77(236), pages 1-18, March.
    16. Müller, Bettina, 2008. "Matching of Individuals for Start-Ups: A Test of the O-Ring Theory," ZEW Discussion Papers 08-112, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    17. Rebitzer, James B & Robinson, Michael D, 1991. "Employer Size and Dual Labor Markets," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(4), pages 710-715, November.
    18. Chris N. Sakellariou & Harry A. Patrinos, 2004. "Technology, computers and wages: evidence from a developing economy," Brussels Economic Review, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles, vol. 47(3-4), pages 543-543.
    19. P R Agénor, 2005. "The Analytics of Segmented Labor Markets," Centre for Growth and Business Cycle Research Discussion Paper Series 52, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    20. Stewart, Mark B, 1990. "Union Wage Differentials, Product Market Influences and the Division of Rents," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 100(403), pages 1122-1137, December.
    21. Jan Willem Gunning & Paul Collier, 1999. "Explaining African Economic Performance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(1), pages 64-111, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    wage development; company size; Gini coefficient of diversification; wage distribution models; three-parameter lognormal curves; maximum likelihood method;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C46 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Specific Distributions
    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • 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

    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:prg:jnlaop:v:2019:y:2019:i:2:id:618:p:3-20. 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: Stanislav Vojir (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/uevsecz.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.