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Wage Premia for Newly Hired Employees: Theory and Evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Kampkötter, Patrick

    (University of Tübingen)

  • Sliwka, Dirk

    (University of Cologne)

Abstract

We investigate wage differences between newly hired and incumbent employees. We show in a formal model that when employees care for wages as well as match-specific utility, incumbents earn less than new recruits if and only if firm-specific human capital is not too important. The existence and structure of these wage premia is then investigated empirically using detailed personnel data from a large number of banks. We find that, on average, new hires earn more than comparable incumbent colleagues on the same job. But the size of the wage premia varies between jobs and indeed strongly depends on a measure of human capital specificity.

Suggested Citation

  • Kampkötter, Patrick & Sliwka, Dirk, 2011. "Wage Premia for Newly Hired Employees: Theory and Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 5538, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5538
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Fabien Postel-Vinay & Jean-Marc Robin, 2002. "Equilibrium Wage Dispersion with Worker and Employer Heterogeneity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(6), pages 2295-2350, November.
    2. Stefan Bender & Till von Wachter, 2006. "In the Right Place at the Wrong Time: The Role of Firms and Luck in Young Workers' Careers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1679-1705, December.
    3. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g8grh35j2 is not listed on IDEAS
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    Cited by:

    1. Esfandiar Maasoumi & Melinda Pitts & Ke Wu, 2014. "The Gap between the Conditional Wage Distributions of Incumbents and the Newly Hired Employees: Decomposition and Uniform Ordering," Advances in Econometrics, in: Essays in Honor of Peter C. B. Phillips, volume 33, pages 587-612, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J44 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Professional Labor Markets and Occupations
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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