Wages, Productivity and Worker Characteristics : A French Perspective

We investigate the relationship between wages, productivity, and workercharacteristics using a new exhaustive matched employer–employee longitudinaldataset for France. Expanding on the methodology originally proposed byHellerstein, Neumark and Troske (1999), we relax their hypotheses and providea new method using cost for the employer. Interestingly, results for Francestand in stark contrast with those found in the US: in manufacturing, we findno or little wage discrimination against women who appear to hold less productivejobs, while older workers are relatively overpaid, or equivalently, youngerworkers are underpaid. Robustness of these results across time periods, industriesand identifying assumptions, are confirmed. (J24, J31, J7) Labor productivity, wages, discrimination.