Public-Private Sector Wage Differentials by Type oif Contract: Evidence from Spain

Abstract

SummaryThe article examines public-private sector wage differentials in Spain using microdata from the Structure of Earnings Survey (Encuesta de Estructura Salarial). When applying various decomposition techniques, we find that it is important to distinguish by gender and type of contract. Our results also highlight the presence of a positive wage premium for public sector workers that can be partially explained by their better endowment of characteristics, in particular by the characteristics of the establishment where they work. The wage premium is greater for female and fixed-term employees and falls across the wage distribution, being negative for more highly skilled workers.

What does the wage structure depend on? Evidence from the national salary survey in Spain

“…Many public employees also have a salary bonus based on performance or productivity. Our results are consistent with prior research demonstrating the existence of wage premium associated with working in the public sector (Antón & de Bustillo, 2015;Hospido & Moral-Benito, 2016;Ramos et al, 2014).…”

“…In this regard, some scholars show the existence of bonuses in the public sector (Arranz Muñoz & García Serrano, 2014). However, other authors affirm that the existence of a paid bonus in the public sector is not a consequence of remunerating workers with the same characteristics, but the composition of the workforce itself and businesses features are those that determine such differences (Ramos et al, 2014). In the same vein, other studies show that these bonuses are more frequent among less qualified workers while they decrease or there is the opposite effect among qualified staff (Hospido & Moral-Benito, 2016;Ramos et al, 2014).…”

“…Most of the authors consider salary as a whole (total gross salary without dividing by retribution concepts). In this sense, some of them study the evolution of the salary distribution over time (Carrasco et al, 2015;Murillo Huertas & Simón, 2014), while others consider several factors that could create differences among groups of the salary distribution (Hospido & Moral-Benito, 2016;Ramos et al, 2014). Besides, very few articles refer to incentives or flexible remuneration.…”

“…Reviewing the existing literature, we observed many articles identifying adjustment variables that affect the global salary distribution in Spain (Felgueroso et al, 2008;Ramos et al, 2014). Some studies focus on factors related to organizations, while others deal with factors related to the employees.…”

Especificación del modelo de habilidades, motivación y oportunidades (AMO) como multiplicativo o aditivo y comprobación de su validez en su aplicación a las prácticas de alta implicación de recursos humanos enfocadas a la mejora continua.

“…We Reviewing the existing literature, we observed many articles identifying adjustment variables that affect the global salary distribution in Spain (Felgueroso et al, 2008;Ramos et al, 2014). Some studies focus on factors related to organizations, while others deal with factors related to the employees.…”