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Wage Convergence and Inequality after Unification: (East) Germany in Transition

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  • Gernandt, Johannes
  • Pfeiffer, Friedhelm

Abstract

This paper investigates the wage convergence between East German workers and their West German counterparts after reunification. Our research is based on a comparison of three groups of workers defined as stayers, migrants and commuters to West Germany, who lived in East Germany in 1989, with groups of West German statistical twin workers, all taken from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). According to our findings, wage convergence for stayers is roughly 75 percent and for commuters 85 percent. Wages of migrants to West Germany equal the ones of their West German statistical twins. We conclude that labor markets in East and West Germany are still characterized by wage differences but that the degree of inequality in both regions converged.

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Paper provided by ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research in its series ZEW Discussion Papers with number 08-022.

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Date of creation: 2008
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Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:7294
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Keywords: Wage convergence; wage inequality; German unification; migration; commuting;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
  • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
  • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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  1. Michael C. Burda & Jennifer Hunt, 2001. "From Reunification to Economic Integration: Productivity and the Labor Market in Eastern Germany," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 32(2), pages 1-92.
  2. Gernandt, Johannes & Pfeiffer, Friedhelm, 2006. "Rising Wage Inequality in Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 06-19 [rev.], ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research.
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  4. Herbert Brücker & Parvati Trübswetter, 2004. "Do the Best Go West?: An Analysis of the Self-Selection of Employed East-West Migrants in Germany," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 396, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
  5. Richard Blundell & Lorraine Dearden & Barbara Sianesi, 2004. "Evaluating the impact of education on earnings in the UK: models, methods and results from the NCDS," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 19451, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  6. Lechner, Michael & Pfeiffer, Friedhelm & O'Shea, Linda Giesecke, 1993. "Expected Job Loss in East Germany Shortly before German Unification," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 289-306.
  7. Kohn, Karsten, 2006. "Rising Wage Dispersion, After All! The German Wage Structure at the Turn of the Century," IZA Discussion Papers 2098, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  8. Frank Heiland, 2004. "Trends in East-West German Migration from 1989 to 2002," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 11(7), pages 173-194, September.
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  10. Christian Dustmann & Johannes Ludsteck & Uta Schönberg, 2009. "Revisiting the German Wage Structure," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 124(2), pages 843-881.
  11. Gerlinde Sinn & Hans-Werner Sinn, 1994. "Jumpstart: The Economic Unification of Germany," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262691728, December.
  12. Juhn, Chinhui & Murphy, Kevin M & Pierce, Brooks, 1993. "Wage Inequality and the Rise in Returns to Skill," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(3), pages 410-42, June.
  13. Jennifer Hunt, 2001. "Post-Unification Wage Growth in East Germany," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(1), pages 190-195, February.
  14. Franz, Wolfgang & Steiner, Viktor, 1999. "Wages in the East German transition process: facts and explanations," ZEW Discussion Papers 99-40, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research.
  15. Eswar S. Prasad, 2004. "The Unbearable Stability of the German Wage Structure: Evidence and Interpretation," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 51(2), pages 354-385.
  16. Reinhard Hujer & Bernd Fitzenberger & Reinhold Schnabel & Thomas E. MaCurdy, 2001. "Testing for uniform wage trends in West-Germany: A cohort analysis using quantile regressions for censored data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 41-86.
  17. Richard B. Freeman & Lawrence F. Katz, 1995. "Differences and Changes in Wage Structures," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number free95-1, May.
  18. Jennifer Hunt, 2006. "Staunching Emigration from East Germany: Age and the Determinants of Migration," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 4(5), pages 1014-1037, 09.
  19. Edward J. Bird & Johannes Schwarze & Gert G. Wagner, 1994. "Wage Effects of the Move toward Free Markets in East Germany," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 47(3), pages 390-400, April.
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  21. Hauser, Richard & Fabig, Holger, 1999. "Labor Earnings and Household Income Mobility in Reunified Germany: A Comparison of the Eastern and Western States," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 45(3), pages 303-24, September.
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Cited by:

  1. Tilman Brück & Heiko Peters, 2009. "20 Years of German Unification: Evidence on Income Convergence and Heterogeneity," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 229, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
  2. Schnabel, Claus, 2015. "United, Yet Apart? A Note on Persistent Labour Market Differences between Western and Eastern Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 8919, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  3. Bredtmann, Julia, 2010. "The Intra-household Division of Labor – An Empirical Analysis of Spousal Influences on Individual Time Allocation," Ruhr Economic Papers 200, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
  4. Usamah Fayez Al-Farhan, 2010. "Changes in the Gender Wage Gap in Germany during a Period of Rising Wage Inequality 1999-2006: Was it Discrimination in the Returns to Human Capital?," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 293, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
  5. Arntz, Melanie & Gregory, Terry & Lehmer, Florian, 2011. "Unequal pay or unequal employment? What drives the skill-composition of labor flows in Germany?," ZEW Discussion Papers 11-074, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research.
  6. Michael Weber & Jan Kluge, 2015. "Decomposing the German East-West wage gap," ERSA conference papers ersa15p636, European Regional Science Association.
  7. Anja Vatterrott, 2015. "Socialisation or Institutional Context: What Determines the First and Second Birth Behaviour of East–West German Migrants?," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 31(4), pages 383-415, October.
  8. Terry Gregory & Melanie Arntz & Florian Lehmer, 2011. "Unequal Pay or Unequal Employment? What Drives the Self-Selection of Internal Migrants in Germany?," ERSA conference papers ersa11p972, European Regional Science Association.
  9. Karsten Kohn & Dirk Antonczyk, 2013. "The aftermath of reunification," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 21(1), pages 73-110, 01.
  10. Kohn, Karsten & Antonczyk, Dirk, 2011. "The Aftermath of Reunification: Sectoral Transition, Gender, and Rising Wage Inequality in East Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 5708, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).

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