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Labor Market Competition and Inequality

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  • Jose Garcia-Louzao
  • Alessandro Ruggieri

Abstract

Does competition in the labor market affect wage inequality? Standard textbook monopsony models predict that lower employer labor market power reduces wage dispersion. We test this hypothesis using Social Security data from Lithuania. We first fit a two-way fixed effects model to quantify the contribution of worker and firm heterogeneity to wage dispersion and document that the compression of dispersion in firm fixed effects has been the main source of the decline in inequality over the past 20 years. Using a theory-based relationship, we then leverage variation across sectors and over time to show that a 10 percentage point increase in labor market competition leads to a 0.7 percentage point reduction in the variance of firm-specific wage components. A counterfactual exercise using our preferred estimates suggests that the increase in labor market competition can explain at least 15 percent of the observed decline in overall wage inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Jose Garcia-Louzao & Alessandro Ruggieri, 2023. "Labor Market Competition and Inequality," CESifo Working Paper Series 10829, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10829
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    Cited by:

    1. Jose Garcia-Louzao & Linas Tarasonis, 2025. "Earnings Inequality and Risk over Two Decades of Economic Development in Lithuania," GRAPE Working Papers 105, GRAPE Group for Research in Applied Economics.
    2. Tristany Armangue-Jubert & Tancredi Rapone & Alessandro Ruggieri, 2026. "Firm Dynamics, Monopsony, and Aggregate Productivity Differences," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 59, January.
    3. Jose Garcia-Louzao & Karolina Jonuškaitė, 2025. "The public-private sector wage gap in Lithuania: evidence from social security data," Baltic Journal of Economics, Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies, vol. 25(1), pages 72-87.

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    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J42 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Monopsony; Segmented Labor Markets
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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