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On Worker and Firm Heterogeneity in Wages and Employment Mobility: Evidence from Danish Register Data

Author

Listed:
  • Rasmus Lentz

    (University of Wisconsin Madison)

  • Jean Marc Robin

    (Sciences Po)

  • Suphanit Piyapromdee

    (University College London)

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, we propose an estimation method that allows for unrestricted interactions between worker and firm unobserved characteristics in both wages and the mobility patterns. Related to Bonhomme et al. (2017) (BLM), our method identifies double sided unobserved heterogeneity through an application of the EM-algorithm where the firm classification is repeatedly updated so as to improve on the likelihood function. In Monte Carlo simulations we demonstrate that the cyclic updating of the firm classification provides a significant performance improvement. Firm classification is a result of both wage and mobility patterns in the data. We estimate the model on Danish matched employer-employee data for the period 1985-2013. The estimation includes gender, education, age and time controls. We find an increased sorting pattern over time, although overall sorting is modest.

Suggested Citation

  • Rasmus Lentz & Jean Marc Robin & Suphanit Piyapromdee, 2018. "On Worker and Firm Heterogeneity in Wages and Employment Mobility: Evidence from Danish Register Data," 2018 Meeting Papers 469, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed018:469
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Fatih Karahan & Serdar Ozkan & Jae Song, 2019. "Anatomy of Lifetime Earnings Inequality: Heterogeneity in Job Ladder Risk vs. Human Capital," Staff Reports 908, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    3. Chaudhary, Amit, 2021. "Do workers, managers, and stations matter for effective policing? A decomposition of productivity into three dimensions of unobserved heterogeneity," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1377, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    4. Christopher Taber & Rune Vejlin, 2020. "Estimation of a Roy/Search/Compensating Differential Model of the Labor Market," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(3), pages 1031-1069, May.
    5. Benjamin Lochner & Bastian Schulz, 2024. "Firm Productivity, Wages, and Sorting," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(1), pages 85-119.
    6. Stéphane Bonhomme & Kerstin Holzheu & Thibaut Lamadon & Elena Manresa & Magne Mogstad & Bradley Setzler, 2023. "How Much Should We Trust Estimates of Firm Effects and Worker Sorting?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(2), pages 291-322.
    7. Alex Xi He & John Kennes & Daniel le Maire, 2018. "Complementarity and Advantage in the Competing Auctions of Skills," Economics Working Papers 2018-10, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    8. Brendan Moore & Judith Scott-Clayton, 2019. "The Firm's Role in Displaced Workers' Earnings Losses," NBER Working Papers 26525, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Annaïg Morin, 2023. "Workplace heterogeneity and wage inequality in Denmark," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(1), pages 123-133, January.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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