Reversed Roles? Wage and employment effects of the current crisis, employment and income distribution

Bellmann L, Gerner HD (2011)


Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2011

Journal

Publisher: JAI Press

Book Volume: 32

Pages Range: 181-206

Abstract

In Germany, the economic crisis 2008/09 was restricted to export-oriented industries such as automotive, chemistry, and mechanical engineering and hence to industries with a high proportion of qualified employees. Therefore, we expect the most current crisis to have a reversed effect on the relative earnings position between more and less qualified in contrast to a development that favored the more qualified since the beginning of the 1980s. Our empirical study is based on the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) Establishment Panel, a representative German establishment level panel data set that surveys information from almost 16,000 personal interviews with high ranked managers.Despite the “German Job Miracle,” conditional difference-in-differences estimations to control for observed and unobserved heterogeneity reveal substantial employment reductions in establishments affected by the economic crisis. Falls in employment are strongest in plants with a relatively low proportion of qualified workers. Furthermore, our results indicate that the economic crisis is associated with a decline in wages, but only in those establishments that do not operate working time accounts. In sum, we do not find evidence for the current crisis having a reversed effect on the relative earnings position. Obviously once again, the higher qualified are better off than the lower qualified.

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How to cite

APA:

Bellmann, L., & Gerner, H.-D. (2011). Reversed Roles? Wage and employment effects of the current crisis, employment and income distribution. Research in Labor Economics, 32, 181-206.

MLA:

Bellmann, Lutz, and Hans-Dieter Gerner. "Reversed Roles? Wage and employment effects of the current crisis, employment and income distribution." Research in Labor Economics 32 (2011): 181-206.

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