IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/izaels/v4y2015i1p1-1310.1186-s40174-015-0038-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Real wage responsiveness to unemployment in Spain: asymmetries along the business cycle

Author

Listed:
  • Paulino Font
  • Mario Izquierdo
  • Sergio Puente

Abstract

We estimate real wage cyclicality in the period compressed between 1987 and 2013 using a large administrative dataset of workers in Spain. Real wages are weakly procyclical in Spain and focusing on differences in different phases of the business cycle, we find that differences across expansions and recessions are significant, with an even lower real wage cyclicality in recessions. Furthermore, higher levels of unemployment do not translate into additional real wages adjustments when the economy is contracting, while lower levels of unemployment during expansions have incremental effects on wage elasticity. This general result holds after accounting for differences in tenure, type of contract and age categories. Nevertheless, wages of newly-hired workers are the most sensitive to the business cycle and exhibit the lowest asymmetric pattern between expansions and recessions. At the other end, wages of workers with more than six years of tenure can be characterized as the most protected against economic downturns. The same is true for fixed-term vs. permanent workers, as well as for young vs. older workers. JEL classification: e32, j31 Copyright Font et al.; licensee Springer. 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Paulino Font & Mario Izquierdo & Sergio Puente, 2015. "Real wage responsiveness to unemployment in Spain: asymmetries along the business cycle," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:izaels:v:4:y:2015:i:1:p:1-13:10.1186/s40174-015-0038-x
    DOI: 10.1186/s40174-015-0038-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1186/s40174-015-0038-x
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1186/s40174-015-0038-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
    ---><---

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

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. William T. Dickens & Lorenz Goette & Erica L. Groshen & Steinar Holden & Julian Messina & Mark E. Schweitzer & Jarkko Turunen & Melanie E. Ward, 2007. "How Wages Change: Micro Evidence from the International Wage Flexibility Project," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 195-214, Spring.
    2. Gary Solon & Robert Barsky & Jonathan A. Parker, 1994. "Measuring the Cyclicality of Real Wages: How Important is Composition Bias?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(1), pages 1-25.
    3. Shin, Donggyun & Shin, Kwanho, 2008. "Why Are The Wages Of Job Stayers Procyclical?," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 1-21, February.
    4. Fei Peng & W. Stanley Siebert, 2008. "Real Wage Cyclicality in Italy," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 22(4), pages 569-591, December.
    5. Shin, Donggyun, 1994. "Cyclicality of real wages among young men," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 137-142, October.
    6. Julián Messina & Cláudia Filipa Duarte & Mario Izquierdo & Philip Du Caju & Niels Lynggård Hansen, 2010. "The Incidence of Nominal and Real Wage Rigidity: An Individual-Based Sectoral Approach," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 8(2-3), pages 487-496, 04-05.
    7. Christopher A. Pissarides, 2009. "The Unemployment Volatility Puzzle: Is Wage Stickiness the Answer?," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(5), pages 1339-1369, September.
    8. Pedro S. Martins, 2007. "Heterogeneity In Real Wage Cyclicality," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 54(5), pages 684-698, November.
    9. Moulton, Brent R., 1986. "Random group effects and the precision of regression estimates," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 385-397, August.
    10. Paul J. Devereux & Robert A. Hart, 2006. "Real Wage Cyclicality of Job Stayers, Within-Company Job Movers, and Between-Company Job Movers," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 60(1), pages 105-119, October.
    11. Druant, Martine & Fabiani, Silvia & Kezdi, Gabor & Lamo, Ana & Martins, Fernando & Sabbatini, Roberto, 2012. "Firms' price and wage adjustment in Europe: Survey evidence on nominal stickiness," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 772-782.
    12. Jorge Roca, 2014. "Wage cyclicality: Evidence from Spain using social security data," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 173-195, August.
    13. Anabela Carneiro & Paulo Guimarães & Pedro Portugal, 2012. "Real Wages and the Business Cycle: Accounting for Worker, Firm, and Job Title Heterogeneity," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(2), pages 133-152, April.
    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. Samuel Bentolila & J. Ignacio García-Pérez & Marcel Jansen, 2017. "Are the Spanish long-term unemployed unemployable?," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 8(1), pages 1-41, March.
    2. Amparo Nagore García & Arthur van Soest, 2017. "New job matches and their stability before and during the crisis," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 38(7), pages 975-995, October.
    3. Paulino Font & Mario Izquierdo & Sergio Puente, 2021. "The Effect of Subsidies to Mature-Age Employment: a Quasi-Experimental Analysis," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 123-147, June.
    4. Pereira, João & Ramos, Raul & Martins, Pedro S., 2024. "Wage cyclicality and labour market institutions," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1469, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    5. Ana-Isabel Guerra & Laura Varela-Candamio & Jesús López-Rodríguez, 2016. "Evaluating Macroeconomic And Distributional Impacts Of Current And Alternative Tax Reforms In Spain: An Applied General Equilibrium Approach," EcoMod2016 9322, EcoMod.
    6. Verdugo, Gregory, 2016. "Real wage cyclicality in the Eurozone before and during the Great Recession: Evidence from micro data," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 46-69.
    7. Fernández-Kranz, Daniel & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2017. "The Perfect Storm: Graduating in a Recession in a Segmented Labor Market," IZA Discussion Papers 10597, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Raul Ramos & Esteban Sanromá & Hipólito Simón, 2016. "The part-time wage penalty: Does bargaining coverage outweigh regional differences in Spain?," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 27(3), pages 368-386, September.
    9. Masuch, Klaus & Anderton, Robert & Setzer, Ralph & Benalal, Nicholai, 2018. "Structural policies in the euro area," Occasional Paper Series 210, European Central Bank.
    10. Samuel Bentolila & J. Ignacio García-Pérez & Marcel Jansen, 2017. "Are the Spanish Long-Term Unemployed Unemployable?," Working Papers wp2018_1707, CEMFI.
    11. Francesco De Palma & KSamuel Ligonnière & Jamel Saadaoui & Yann Thommen, 2022. "The Role of Wage Bargaining Institutions in the Phillips curve Flattening," Working Papers REM 2022/0236, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    12. Sacht, Stephen, 2015. "On the efficiency of labor market reforms: How to solve the Spanish puzzle?," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 9, pages 1-30.
    13. Gálvez-Iniesta Ismael, 2022. "The Cyclicality of Immigrant Wages and Labour Market Flows: Evidence from Spain," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 90-122, January.
    14. Schaefer, Daniel & Singleton, Carl, 2019. "Cyclical labor costs within jobs," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    15. Juan A. Sanchis-llopis & Antonio Cutanda, 2020. "The Spanish cyclicality of the user cost of labour," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(3), pages 1893-1899.
    16. Albagli, Elías & Contreras, Gabriela & Tapia, Matías & Wlasiuk, Juan M., 2022. "Earnings cyclicality of new and continuing jobs: The role of tenure and transition length," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    17. Bjorn Dapi, 2020. "Wage Cyclicality and Composition Bias in the Norwegian Economy," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 122(4), pages 1403-1430, October.
    18. Guido Bulligan & Eliana Viviano, 2017. "Has the wage Phillips curve changed in the euro area?," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-22, December.
    19. Patricia Peinado & Felipe Serrano, 2017. "Unemployment, wages and pensions," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(5), pages 670-680, September.
    20. Yolanda F. Rebollo-Sanz, 2017. "Decomposing the structure of wages into firm and worker effects: some insights from a high unemployment economy," Working Papers 17.10, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.

    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. Verdugo, Gregory, 2016. "Real wage cyclicality in the Eurozone before and during the Great Recession: Evidence from micro data," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 46-69.
    2. Jorge Roca, 2014. "Wage cyclicality: Evidence from Spain using social security data," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 173-195, August.
    3. Bjorn Dapi, 2020. "Wage Cyclicality and Composition Bias in the Norwegian Economy," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 122(4), pages 1403-1430, October.
    4. Fei Peng & Sajid Anwar & Lili Kang, 2020. "Job Movement and Real Wage Flexibility in Eastern and Western Parts of Germany," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 44(4), pages 764-789, October.
    5. Andrew Snell & Heiko Stuber & Jonathan Thomas, 2018. "Downward Real Wage Rigidity and Equal Treatment Wage Contracts: Theory and Evidence," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 30, pages 265-284, October.
    6. Pereira, João & Ramos, Raul & Martins, Pedro S., 2024. "Wage cyclicality and labour market institutions," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1469, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    7. Anger, Silke, 2011. "The Cyclicality of Effective Wages within Employer–Employee Matches in a Rigid Labor Market," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 18(6), pages 786-797.
    8. Barrela, Rodrigo & Costa, Eduardo & Portugal, Pedro, 2024. "On the Asymmetrical Sensitivity of the Distribution of Real Wages to Business Cycle Fluctuations," IZA Discussion Papers 16911, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Kang, Lili & Peng, Fei, 2012. "Real wage cyclicality in urban China," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 141-143.
    10. Anabela Carneiro & Paulo Guimaraes & Pedro Portugal, 2009. "Real Wages and the Business Cycle: Accounting for Worker and Firm Heterogeneity," CEF.UP Working Papers 0903, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    11. Daniel Schaefer & Carl Singleton, 2017. "Real Wages and Hours in the Great Recession: Evidence from Firms and their Entry-Level Jobs," CESifo Working Paper Series 6766, CESifo.
    12. Bauer, Anja & Lochner, Benjamin, 2020. "History dependence in wages and cyclical selection: Evidence from Germany," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    13. Jose Garcia‐Louzao, 2021. "Employment and Wages over the Business Cycle in Worker‐Owned Firms: Evidence from Spain," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(2), pages 418-443, June.
    14. Kang, Lili & Peng, Fei, 2012. "Selection and Real wage cyclicality: Germany Case," MPRA Paper 42452, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Lili Kang & Fei Peng, 2017. "Wage flexibility in the Chinese labour market, 1989–2009," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(4), pages 616-628, April.
    16. Martins, Pedro S. & Solon, Gary & Thomas, Jonathan P., 2010. "Measuring What Employers Really Do about Entry Wages over the Business Cycle," IZA Discussion Papers 4757, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Peng, Fei & Siebert, W. Stanley, 2007. "Real Wage Cyclicality in Germany and the UK: New Results Using Panel Data," IZA Discussion Papers 2688, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Faryna, Oleksandr & Pham, Tho & Talavera, Oleksandr & Tsapin, Andriy, 2022. "Wage and unemployment: Evidence from online job vacancy data," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 52-70.
    19. Pedro S. Martins & Gary Solon & Jonathan P. Thomas, 2012. "Measuring What Employers Do about Entry Wages over the Business Cycle: A New Approach," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 36-55, October.
    20. Effrosyni Adamopoulou & Ernesto Villanueva, 2020. "Wage determination and the bite of collective contracts in Italy and Spain: evidence from the metal working industry," Working Papers 2036, Banco de España.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wage cyclicality; Downward wage rigidity; Social security data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • 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:spr:izaels:v:4:y:2015:i:1:p:1-13:10.1186/s40174-015-0038-x. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.