Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in WO R K I N G PA PE R S E R I E S N O 1153 / F E B R UA RY 2010This paper can be downloaded without charge from http://www.ecb.europa.eu or from the Social Science Research Network electronic library at http://ssrn.com/abstract_id=1547771.In 2010 all ECB publications feature a motif taken from the €500 banknote. THE DETERMINATION OF WAGES OF NEWLY HIRED EMPLOYEES SURVEY EVIDENCE ON INTERNAL VERSUS EXTERNAL FACTORS WAGE DYNAMICS NETWORK1 We would like to thank Rebekka Christopoulou for excellent data assistance; Silvia Fabiani, Roberto Sabbatini and other members of the WDN Wage Dynamics NetworkThis paper contains research conducted within the Wage Dynamics Network (WDN). The WDN is a research network consisting of economists from the European Central Bank (ECB) and the national central banks (NCBs) of the EU countries. The WDN aims at studying in depth the features and sources of wage and labour cost dynamics and their implications for monetary policy. The specific objectives of the network are: i) identifying the sources and features of wage and labour cost dynamics that are most relevant for monetary policy and ii) clarifying the relationship between wages, labour costs and prices both at the firm and macro-economic level.The refereeing process of this paper has been co-ordinated by a team composed of Gabriel Fagan (ECB, Bihan (Banque de France) and Thomas Mathä (Banque centrale du Luxembourg).form, to encourage comments and suggestions prior to final publication. The views expressed in the paper are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the ESCB. Abstract 4 Non-technical summary 5

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In 2010 all ECB publications feature a motif taken from the €500 banknote.1 We thank Vladimír Smolka of Trexima Ltd. for preparing the datasets and for his assistance, as well as Juan F. Jimeno, Daniel Münich, Kateřina Šmídková, Radek Šnobl, an anonymous referee, ECB Wage Dynamics Network participants and participants of EEA conference in Glasgow for valuable comments. All errors and omissions are ours.The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarilyrepresent those of the Czech National Bank or the European Commission.2 DG ECFIN, European Commission.

Based on an ad hoc firm‐level survey on wage and pricing policies conducted in a large number of European countries, this study finds that about 60% of firms change base wages once a year with some clustering of wage changes observed in January. Differences in the frequency of wage changes between firms are mainly attributable to the institutional framework of the labor market in which they operate. There is evidence of both nominal and real downward wage rigidity. Moreover, when facing a negative shock, European firms prefer to reduce the amount of labor rather than cutting wages. Among those that decide to cut wages a majority prefers to cut flexible wage components rather than base wages. The rigidity of base wages is largely explained by fairness and efficiency considerations. (JEL: E24, J30)