Are there pecuniary compensations for working conditions?

Date

2009

Authors

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Elsevier

Abstract

In this paper we assess the relative contribution of working conditions to wage determination with an emphasis on differences along the earnings distribution. A survey of British employees in 2001 rich in questions regarding the job post enables us to separate the contribution of working conditions, job attributes and individual characteristics to the process of wage determination. Standard wage equations reveal that covariates such as having “repetitive job” and using generic skills such as “literacy” or “customer handling skills” are associated with significant premiums and penalties. Quantile regressions confirm the presence of penalties to poor working conditions, such as “working to tight deadlines”, that are significant in the middle section of the earnings distribution and robust to the inclusion of a wide range of controls for person, firm and other job characteristics. Counterfactual decompositions at quantiles show that, despite the apparent penalty, there are pecuniary compensations to poor working conditions around the first quartile and the median of the earnings distribution.

Description

Keywords

WORKING CONDITIONS, COMPENSATING DIFFERENTIALS, GENERIC SKILLS, QUANTILE REGRESSIONS, COUNTERFACTUAL EARNINGS DECOMPOSITIONS, WAGE DETERMINATION, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

Citation

Fernández, R.M., & Nordman, C.J. (2009). Are there pecuniary compensations for working conditions?. Labour Economics, 16, 194-207. doi:10.1016/j.labeco.2008.08.001

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10625/53075
 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2008.08.001

DOI

Collections

IDRC Research Results / Résultats de recherches du CRDI
2000-2009 / Années 2000-2009
Research Results (SIG) / Résultats de recherches (CPT)