Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/91506 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
IFS Working Papers No. W13/11
Publisher: 
Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), London
Abstract: 
This paper uses individual data on employment and wages to shed light on the UK's productivity puzzle. It finds that workforce composition cannot explain the reduction in wages and hence productivity that we observe; instead, real wages have fallen significantly within jobs. Why? One possibility we investigate is higher labour supply in this recession than in the past. Another is lower trade union membership. Alternatively, it might be driven by a fall in productivity as a result of a lower capital-labour ratio. We cannot tell whether productivity is driving wages or vice versa, but understanding why wages have fallen within jobs is at the heart of the UK's productivity puzzle.
Subjects: 
productivity
employment
wages
recession
JEL: 
J01
J21
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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