Sorting and local wage and skill distributions in France

Abstract

This paper provides descriptive evidence about the distribution of wages and skills in denser and less dense employment areas in France. We confirm that on average, workers in denser areas are more skilled. There is also strong over-representation of workers with particularly high and low skills in denser areas. These features are consistent with patterns of migration including negative selection of migrants to less dense areas and positive selection towards denser areas. Nonetheless migration, even in the long-run, accounts for little of the skill differences between denser and less dense areas. Finally, we find marked differences across age groups and some suggestions that much of the skill differences across areas can be explained by differences between occupational groups rather than within. The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit organization supported by Deutsche Post Foundation. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its international network, workshops and conferences, data service, project support, research visits and doctoral program. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public.IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. ABSTRACT Sorting and Local Wage and Skill Distributions in France *This paper provides descriptive evidence about the distribution of wages and skills in denser and less dense employment areas in France. We confirm that on average, workers in denser areas are more skilled. There is also strong over-representation of workers with particularly high and low skills in denser areas. These features are consistent with patterns of migration including negative selection of migrants to less dense areas and positive selection towards denser areas. Nonetheless migration, even in the long run, accounts for little of the skill differences between denser and less dense areas. Finally, we find marked differences across age groups and some suggestions that much of the skill differences across areas can be explained by differences between occupational groups rather than within.JEL Classification: J31, J61, R12, R23

Productive Cities: Sorting, Selection, and Agglomeration

“…Gennaioli, La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, and Shleifer (2012) interpret this as evidence of extremely high returns to education for entrepreneurs. 15 Our model suggests an alternative explanation. Recall that our model indicates that only the most productive individuals become entrepreneurs while the others become workers.…”

Human Capital Externalities: Effects for Low-Educated Workers and Low-Skilled Jobs

“…Several previous studies, including Rauch (1993), Acemoglu and Angrist (2000), Moretti (2004a) and Liu (2007Liu ( , 2013, have tested this hypothesis by estimating the effect of city or state average educational attainment on individual earnings. Combes et al (2012) study the wage and skill distribution by employment density in over 300 French employment areas. They find that both more high and more low skilled workers concentrate in dense areas rather than in less dense areas.…”

Salaires et salariés en Île-de-France

“…Toutefois, la plus grande disparité de l'Ile-de-France en termes de qualifications individuelles semble expliquer pour l'essentiel sa plus grande disparité de salaires. Cela est en contraste avec les résultats de Combes et al (2012b) sur la France entière et ceux de Glaeser et al (2009) sur les villes américaines qui n'attribuent qu'une partie des plus grandes disparités de salaires aux écarts de qualification.…”

“…Comme Combes et al (2012b), nous faisons le lien entre les disparités de qualifications et la migration des salariés ainsi que leur origine. En cela, notre étude contribue à la littérature sur le tri spatial entre villes et régions.…”

“…Comme d'autres contributions antérieures, nous montrons dans le cas francilien que la prime de salaire pour les villes les plus grandes provient en partie de qualifications plus élevées (Combes, Duranton, et Gobillon, 2008, Mion et Naticchioni, 2009, Matano et Naticchioni, 2012, Baum-Snow et Pavan, 2012. Toutefois, la part expliquée des différences de salaire par les différences de qualifications est plus faible quand on compare l'Ile-de-France au reste de la France (environ le quart) que quand on compare les zones d'emploi plus denses et les zones d'emploi moins denses en France (où cette part est d'environ 40% selon Combes et al, 2012b).…”