Abstract
This article studies how decentralization of wage bargaining from sector to firm level influences wage levels and wage dispersion. We use detailed panel data covering a period of decentralization in the Danish labor market. The decentralization process provides variation in the individual worker's wage-setting system that facilitates identification of the effects of decentralization.We find a wage premium associated with firm-level bargaining relative to sector-level bargaining and that the return to skills is higher under the more decentralized wage-setting systems. Using quantile regression, we also find that wages aremore dispersed under firm-level bargaining compared tomore centralized wage-setting systems.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Journal of Labor Economics |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Pages (from-to) | 501-533 |
| Number of pages | 33 |
| ISSN | 0734-306X |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2013 |