Building the minimum wage: the distributional impact of Germany’s first sectoral minimum wage on wages and hours across different wage bargaining regimes

Rattenhuber, Pia

doi:10.1007/s00181-013-0726-1

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Strong wage compression not only in the lower tail but also in the upper tail of the wage distribution is found during an economic downturn in the German construction sector, indicating a negative wage spillover effect for high-wage earners and increased bargaining power for firms over workers still in employment (Aretz et al 2012 and2013;Kraft et al 2012, Gregory 2014. Wage-setting institutions might play a role in determining the extent of the spillover effect (Rattenhuber 2014). Draca et al (2011) find that after the minimum wage was introduced in the UK in 1999, wages above the minimum level were raised significantly, while firm profitability declined considerably.…”

Section: Empirical Results For the Effects Of Rises In The Minimum Wagementioning

confidence: 99%

How do firms adjust to rises in the minimum wage? Survey evidence from Central and Eastern Europe

et al. 2018

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We study the transmission channels for rises in the minimum wage using a unique firm-level dataset from eight Central and Eastern European countries. Representative samples of firms in each country were asked to evaluate the relevance of a wide range of adjustment channels following specific instances of rises in the minimum wage during the recent post-crisis period. The paper adds to the rest of literature by presenting the reactions of firms as a combination of strategies and evaluates the relative importance of those strategies. Our findings suggest that the most popular adjustment channels are cuts in non-labour costs, rises in product prices, and improvements in productivity. Cuts in employment are less popular and occur mostly through reduced hiring rather than direct layoffs. Our study also provides evidence of potential spillover effects that rises in the minimum wage can have on firms without minimum wage workers.

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Section: Empirical Results For the Effects Of Rises In The Minimum Wagementioning

confidence: 99%

How do firms adjust to rises in the minimum wage? Survey evidence from Central and Eastern Europe

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Empirical Results For the Effects Of Rises In The Minimum Wagementioning

confidence: 99%

How Do Firms Adjust to Rises in the Minimum Wage? Survey Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe

et al. 2018

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“…For instance, Rattenhuber (2014) investigates the distributional impacts of MWs in the German construction sector and thereby distinguishes between different bargaining regimes.…”

Section: Literature On Minimum Wage Spilloversmentioning

confidence: 99%

When the Minimum Wage Bites Back: Quantile Treatment Effects of a Sectoral Minimum Wage in Germany

Gregory

2014

SSRN Journal

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Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar.Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW. When the Minimum Wage Bites Back: Quantile TreatmentEffects of a Sectoral Minimum Wage in Germany * Terry Gregory † Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW)Dezember 2014 AbstractIn this study we investigate the minimum wage (MW) effects for a German sub-construction sector where the MW bites extraordinary hard by international standards. Within a quasiexperiment we estimate the Quantile Treatment Effects of the MW on the conditional and unconditional distribution of earnings. For Eastern Germany, the results indicate significant real (nominal) wage increases that ripple up to about the 0.6th quantile. However, the MW also led to declining real wages (stagnating nominal wages) among upper-decile workers, thus reducing the average pay reward for high-skilled labour in the sector. We provide evidence that a rising labour cost burden for firms together with an increased bargaining power of employers over workers still employed in the sector led to wage moderation at the upper decile, particularly among smaller East German firms. Overall this paper demonstrates how a MW geared towards the lower rank may render unexpected side effects for other workers located higher up in the wage distribution and who are mostly assumed to be unaffected by such policy interventions.

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Building the minimum wage: the distributional impact of Germany’s first sectoral minimum wage on wages and hours across different wage bargaining regimes

Cited by 12 publications

References 27 publications

How do firms adjust to rises in the minimum wage? Survey evidence from Central and Eastern Europe

How do firms adjust to rises in the minimum wage? Survey evidence from Central and Eastern Europe

How Do Firms Adjust to Rises in the Minimum Wage? Survey Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe

When the Minimum Wage Bites Back: Quantile Treatment Effects of a Sectoral Minimum Wage in Germany

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