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The Public Sector Pay Gap in France, Great Britain and Italy

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  • Lucifora, Claudio

    () (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore)

  • Meurs, Dominique

    () (University Paris Ouest-Nanterre)

Abstract

We investigate public-private pay determination using French, British and Italian microdata. While traditional methods focus on parametric methods to estimate the public sector pay gap, in this paper, we use both non-parametric (kernel) and quantile regression methods to analyse the distribution of wages across sectors. We show that the public-private (hourly) wage differential is sensitive to the choice of quantile and that the pattern of premia varies with both gender and skill. In all countries the public sector is found to pay more low skilled workers with respect to the private sector, whilst the reverse is true for high skilled workers. The effects are more pronounced for females.

Suggested Citation

  • Lucifora, Claudio & Meurs, Dominique, 2004. "The Public Sector Pay Gap in France, Great Britain and Italy," IZA Discussion Papers 1041, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1041
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    quantile regression; public sector; wage differentials;

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets
    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General

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