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Wage Sorting Trends

Author

Listed:
  • Jesper Bagger

    (Royal Holloway College, UK)

  • Rune Vejlin

    (Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University, Denmark)

  • Kenneth L. Sørensen

    (Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University, Denmark)

Abstract

Using a population-wide Danish Matched Employer-Employee panel from 1980-2006, we document a strong trend towards more positive assortative wage sorting. The correlation between worker and firm fixed effects estimated from a log wage regression increases from -0.07 in 1981 to .14 in 2001. The nonstationary wage sorting pattern is not due to compositional changes in the labor market, primarily occurs among high wage workers, and comprises 41 percent of the increase in the standard deviation of log real wages between 1980 and 2006. We show that the wage sorting trend is associated with worker reallocation via voluntary quits.

Suggested Citation

  • Jesper Bagger & Rune Vejlin & Kenneth L. Sørensen, 2012. "Wage Sorting Trends," Economics Working Papers 2012-17, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    • Handle: RePEc:aah:aarhec:2012-17
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jan Eeckhout & Philipp Kircher, 2011. "Identifying Sorting--In Theory," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 78(3), pages 872-906.
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    6. John M. Abowd & Robert H. Creecy & Francis Kramarz, 2002. "Computing Person and Firm Effects Using Linked Longitudinal Employer-Employee Data," Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Technical Papers 2002-06, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
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    8. Rasmus Lentz & Jesper Bagger, 2009. "An Empirical Model of Wage Dispersion with Sorting," 2009 Meeting Papers 964, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    9. Rasmus Lentz, 2012. "An Empirical Model of Wage Dispersion with Sorting," 2012 Meeting Papers 1040, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Andrew Shephard & Modibo Sidibe, 2019. "Schooling Investment, Mismatch,and Wage Inequality," PIER Working Paper Archive 19-013, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    2. David Card & Jörg Heining & Patrick Kline, 2013. "Workplace Heterogeneity and the Rise of West German Wage Inequality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 128(3), pages 967-1015.
    3. Luca Paolo Merlino & Pierpaolo Parrotta & Dario Pozzoli, 2018. "Gender Differences in Sorting," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 671-709, October.
    4. Benjamin Lochner & Bastian Schulz, 2024. "Firm Productivity, Wages, and Sorting," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(1), pages 85-119.
    5. Rasmus Lentz & Suphanit Piyapromdee & Jean-Marc Robin, 2018. "On Worker and Firm Heterogeneity in Wages and Employment Mobility: Evidence from Danish Register Data," PIER Discussion Papers 91, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.
    6. Chaudhary, Amit, 2021. "Do workers, managers, and stations matter for effective policing? A decomposition of productivity into three dimensions of unobserved heterogeneity," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1377, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    7. Gallen, Yana & Lesner, Rune V. & Vejlin, Rune, 2019. "The labor market gender gap in Denmark: Sorting out the past 30 years," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 58-67.
    8. Berlingieri, Giuseppe & Blanchenay, Patrick & Criscuolo, Chiara, 2024. "The great divergence(s)," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(3).
    9. Skipper, Niels & Vejlin, Rune, 2015. "Determinants of generic vs. brand drug choice: Evidence from population-wide Danish data," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 204-215.
    10. Marino, Marianna & Parrotta, Pierpaolo & Pozzoli, Dario, 2016. "Educational diversity and knowledge transfers via inter-firm labor mobility," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 168-183.
    11. Torres, Sónia & Portugal, Pedro & Addison, John T. & Guimarães, Paulo, 2018. "The sources of wage variation and the direction of assortative matching: Evidence from a three-way high-dimensional fixed effects regression model," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 47-60.
    12. Battisti, Michele, 2017. "High wage workers and high wage peers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 47-63.
    13. Schulz, Bastian, 2024. "Labor market dynamics with sorting," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    14. Gueyon Kim & Dohyeon Lee, 2020. "Offshoring and Segregation by Skill: Theory and Evidence," Working Papers 2020-073, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    15. Luca Paolo Merlino & Pierpaolo Parrotta & Dario Pozzoli, 2018. "Gender Differences in Sorting," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 671-709, October.
    16. Luca Paolo Merlino & Pierpaolo Parrotta & Dario Pozzoli, 2012. "Assortative Matching Gender," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2012-040, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Matched Employer-Employee Data; Firmfixed effects; Worker fixed effects; Wage sorting; Wage inequality; Voluntary quits.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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