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Wages and Employment Growth: Disaggregated Evidence for West Germany

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  • Suedekum, Jens

    (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf)

  • Blien, Uwe

    (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg)

Abstract

We address the effects of wages on employment growth on the basis of a theoretical model from which cost and demand effects can be derived. In the empirical analysis we take a highly disaggregated perspective and apply a newly developed shift-share regression technique on an exhaustive and very accurate data set for West Germany. The regression shows that the impact of regional wages on employment growth is significantly negative. There is some variation of this effect across sectors, but in no case we find support for the claim that an exogenous wage increase leads to higher employment growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Suedekum, Jens & Blien, Uwe, 2004. "Wages and Employment Growth: Disaggregated Evidence for West Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 1128, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1128
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    Cited by:

    1. Jens Suedekum & Uwe Blien & Johannes Ludsteck, 2006. "What has caused regional employment growth differences in Eastern Germany?," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 26(1), pages 51-73, March.
    2. Jens Suedekum, 2006. "Concentration and Specialization Trends in Germany since Re-unification," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(8), pages 861-873.
    3. Hans-Friedrich Eckey & Reinhold Kosfeld & Matthias Türck, 2007. "Regional Convergence in Germany: a Geographically Weighted Regression Approach," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(1), pages 45-64.
    4. Ulrich Zierahn, 2012. "The importance of spatial autocorrelation for regional employment growth in Germany," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 32(1), pages 19-43, March.
    5. Friso Schlitte, 2012. "Local human capital, segregation by skill, and skill‐specific employment growth," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 91(1), pages 85-106, March.
    6. Döhrn, Roland & Barabas, György & Gebhardt, Heinz & Kitlinski, Tobias & Micheli, Martin & Vosen, Simeon & Zwick, Lina, 2013. "Die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung im Inland: Aufschwung setzt sich fort," RWI Konjunkturberichte, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, vol. 64(1), pages 41-99.
    7. Blien, Uwe & Suedekum, Jens & Wolf, Katja, 2006. "Local employment growth in West Germany: A dynamic panel approach," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 445-458, August.
    8. Rau, Matthias & Werner, Daniel, 2005. "Vergleichende Analyse von Länderarbeitsmärkten : Länderstudie Baden-Württemberg," IAB-Regional. Berichte und Analysen aus dem Regionalen Forschungsnetz. IAB Baden-Württemberg 200501, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    9. Vasilescu, Denisa Maria & Aparaschivei, Larisa & Roman, Mihai Daniel, 2012. "Employment in Romania: evidence from a panel data analysis," MPRA Paper 38388, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    purchasing power argument; employment growth; shift-share-analysis; regional wages;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

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