On Sand and the Role of Grease in Labor Markets: How Does Germany Compare?
September 1, 2002
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Summary
This paper investigates wage setting in (west) Germany using the German Socioeconomic Panel dataset on individuals and compares the findings with those available for the United Kingdom and the United States. The fraction of job stayers in (west) Germany who suffer unchanged wages or wage cuts compares with that in similar data for the Anglo-American countries, even after various adjustments for potential reporting errors. While nominal wages of job stayers are rigid downward, real wages are not. Nevertheless, the macroeconomic effects of the nominal rigidity are limited and cannot be weakened substantially by raising inflation.
Subject: Civil service, Inflation, Labor, Prices, Real wages, Wage adjustments, Wages
Keywords: base pay, change distribution, civil servant, Civil service, Inflation, Inflation Targets, job stayer, Real wages, Wage adjustments, wage change, wage cut, wage data, wage decline, wage growth, Wage Rigidities, wage rigidity, Wage Setting, Wages, WP
Pages:
37
Volume:
2002
DOI:
Issue:
164
Series:
Working Paper No. 2002/164
Stock No:
WPIEA1642002
ISBN:
9781451858006
ISSN:
1018-5941
