This paper analyses the effect of collective bargaining on within-firm wage dispersion for the case of Spain. What is relevant in the Spanish case is to compare the effect of the two basic levels of bargaining (firm and sector) on wage dispersion. By using the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, this paper concludes that collective agreements at firm level have a negative effect on wage dispersion. At the same time, firms that have signed these types of agreements show greater wage dispersion than those covered by agreements at the sector level, owing to the positive and compensating effect of firms' and workers' features. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2004.

This paper analyses wage differences among workers with doctoral studies depending on their specialised area of knowledge (humanities and social studies or science) and on their type of job (university teacher or other professional activity). Traditionally, science-related activities have been associated with higher wages than humanities and social studies ones due to the fact that the market tends to value higher the productivity of disciplines considered to be sciences. By estimating an endogenous switching model and applying the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, we have observed the existence of a positive wage difference in favour of Ph.D.s of humanities or social studies for university teachers, and for the Ph.D.s of science in other professions.

This article analyses the determining factors weighted by doctoral graduates when choosing their professional careers. In Spain, the analysis of such a group has been traditionally excluded from the empiric studies. On the one hand, the lack of databases made it difficult to see their professional situation, and on the other, a university career was understood as this group's innate purpose. The growing demand for qualified professionals in general and for those with a scientific training in particular has prompted the developed countries to carry out research on how to match the third‐level training cycle and labour market needs. The analysis of this group's labour conditions allows one to assess whether the current doctoral education programmes satisfy labour market needs. The estimation of a multinomial logit model reveals the different factors when choosing a professional career depending on the area of knowledge. Personal characteristics, such as age, training, area of knowledge or job, as well as the expected wages become fundamental when determining doctors' professional future. Moreover, the results prove that a job outside the university is becoming a preferred option for doctors in certain fields.

PurposeThis paper analyses the relationship between wage dispersion and firm size within a “two-tier” system of collective bargaining (firm bargaining and multi-employer bargaining levels). Collective bargaining has a decisive role in setting wages in Spain, and its regulation highly limits the possibility for smaller firms to negotiate their own collective agreement.Design/methodology/approachBased on the Spanish Structure of Earnings Survey 2006, 2010 and 2014, the authors use variance decomposition in order to deeply analyse the effect of bargaining level on wage dispersion and compare the value of each decile of the distribution of wages for the purposes of identifying the quantitative differences in wage compression.FindingsIn general, the outcomes positively linked firm size and firm bargaining to wage dispersion. However, if firm size is taken into account, the effect of firm bargaining is limited among small firm workers because this type of firm is not usually covered by firm bargaining. On the other hand, the time analysis allows observing a wage compression that follows different patterns depending on firm size, compressing the higher part of the distribution in case of small firms and the lower part in case of large firms. This should be explained by the fact that wage negotiation is dependent on firm size.Social implicationsFirm size has determined firm adjustment strategies to face the recent economic crisis and allows to evaluate the impact that changes in collective bargaining can have on wage distributionOriginality/valueThere is no research that has tried to analyse the relationship between wage dispersion and firm size in a context where collective bargaining is essential to understand the wage structure. Normally, firm size plays a decisive role in wage policy given that the capacity of a company to negotiate an agreement is closely linked to its size.

Este artículo pretende analizar la relación entre el crecimiento económico regional y el desarrollo de la educación superior. Para ello se abordará desde una perspectiva macroeconómica, utilizando un panel de datos relativos al conjunto de las comunidades autónomas españolas para el periodo comprendido entre 1985 y 2016. El crecimiento económico regional se mide en términos de Producto Interior Bruto per cápita, mientras que el crecimiento de la educación superior se mide en términos de un indicador alternativo al utilizado tradicionalmente en la literatura: alumnos matriculados en cada año académico. El principal resultado es la estimación de un efecto positivo de la educación superior en el crecimiento regional. Además, dado que este efecto es más intenso en las regiones menos desarrolladas económicamente, se puede concluir que la educación superior juega un efecto positivo en la cohesión económica y social entre regiones, reduciendo las diferencias económicas y de bienestar. Por otra parte, la reducida movilidad interna de la mano de obra en España tiene su reflejo en un efecto no significativo entre regiones. Finalmente, el análisis de los efectos composición se muestra relevantes dado que se pueden observar efectos de distinta intensidad en función del campo de conocimiento en el que se ha formado el trabajador.