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Why Firms Avoid Cutting Wages

Author

Listed:
  • Philip Du Caju
  • Theodora Kosma
  • Martina Lawless
  • Julián Messina
  • Tairi Rõõm

Abstract

Firms very rarely cut nominal wages, even in the face of considerable negative economic shocks. The authors of this article use a unique survey of 14 European countries to ask firms directly about the incidence of wage cuts and to assess the relevance of a range of potential reasons for why the firms avoid cutting wages. They examine how firm characteristics and collective bargaining institutions affect the relevance of each of the common explanations for the infrequency of wage cuts. Concerns about the retention of productive staff and a lowering of morale and effort were reported as key reasons for downward wage rigidity across all countries and firm types. Restrictions created by collective bargaining were found to be an important consideration for firms in Western European (EU-15) countries but were one of the lowest-ranked obstacles in the new EU member-states in Central and Eastern Europe.

Suggested Citation

  • Philip Du Caju & Theodora Kosma & Martina Lawless & Julián Messina & Tairi Rõõm, 2015. "Why Firms Avoid Cutting Wages," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 68(4), pages 862-888, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:68:y:2015:i:4:p:862-888
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Fongoni, Marco & Dickson, Alex, 2015. "A Theory of Wage Setting Behavior," SIRE Discussion Papers 2015-57, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    2. Peter Toth & Katarina Valkova, 2015. "Wage Rigidities and Jobless Recovery in Slovakia: New Survey Evidence," Working and Discussion Papers OP 3/2015, Research Department, National Bank of Slovakia.
    3. Lucifora, Claudio & Origo, Federica, 2025. "Rigid Yet Resilient: Firms' Margins of Adjustment to Demand Shocks in Regulated Labour Markets," IZA Discussion Papers 17670, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Aedín Doris & Donal O’Neill & Olive Sweetman, 2015. "Wage flexibility and the great recession: the response of the Irish labour market," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-24, December.
    5. Noélie Delahaie & Coralie Perez, 2018. "Wages and employment adjustment in times of crisis in France: which concessions bargaining? A mixed-method approach based on the 2010-2011 REPONSE survey [Ajustements de l'emploi et des salaires : ," Post-Print halshs-01802272, HAL.
    6. Matthias Efing & Harald Hau & Patrick Kampkötter & Jean-Charles Rochet, 2023. "Bank Bonus Pay as a Risk Sharing Contract," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 36(1), pages 235-280.
    7. Marotzke Petra & Anderton Robert & Bairrao Ana & Berson Clémence & Tóth Peter, 2020. "Asymmetric wage adjustment and employment in European firms," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 20(2), pages 1-25, June.
    8. Ananish Chaudhuri & Tony So & Erwann Sbai, 2017. "Pay cuts and layoffs in an experimental minimum effort coordination game," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(3), pages 2181-2197.
    9. Kerndler, Martin, 2019. "Size and persistence matter: Wage and employment insurance at the micro level," ECON WPS - Working Papers in Economic Theory and Policy 04/2019, TU Wien, Institute of Statistics and Mathematical Methods in Economics, Economics Research Unit.
    10. Ogbonnaya, Chidiebere & Dhir, Amandeep & Maxwell-Cole, Alexander & Gorny, Tomasz, 2022. "Cost-cutting actions, employment relations and workplace grievances: Lessons from the 2008 financial crisis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 265-275.
    11. Poeschel, Friedrich, 2018. "Why do employers not pay less than advertised? Directed search and the Diamond paradox," MPRA Paper 87920, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Lilian N. Rolim & Carolina Troncoso Baltar & Gilberto Tadeu Lima, 2023. "Income distribution, productivity growth, and workers’ bargaining power in an agent-based macroeconomic model," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 473-516, April.
    13. Beblavý, Miroslav & Lenaerts, Karolien & Maselli, Ilaria, 2017. "Design of a European Unemployment Benefit Scheme," CEPS Papers 12263, Centre for European Policy Studies.
    14. Branten, Eva & Lamo, Ana & Rõõm, Tairi, 2018. "Nominal wage rigidity in the EU countries before and after the Great Recession: evidence from the WDN surveys," Working Paper Series 2159, European Central Bank.
    15. Andrea Szalavetz, 2016. "Post‐crisis developments in global value chains - example of foreign investors’ Hungarian subsidiaries," IWE Working Papers 219, Institute for World Economics - Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    16. Olafsdottir, Katrin, 2020. "A deep recession came with deep wage cuts," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    17. Noélie Delahaie & Coralie Perez, 2018. "Ajustements de l'emploi et des salaires : quels compromis en temps de crise ? Une analyse quantitative et qualitative à partir de l'enquête REPONSE 2010-2011," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 18006, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    18. Berson Clémence, 2020. "Shocks and wage adjustments [Chocs économiques et ajustements salariaux]," Bulletin de la Banque de France, Banque de France, issue 231.
    19. Rory O'Farrell, 2015. "Wages and Ireland’s International Competitiveness," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 46(3), pages 429-458.

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