Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/51606 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 5489
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This study analyzes real wage cyclicality for male full-time workers within employer-employee matches in Germany over the period 1984-2004. Five different wage measures are compared: the standard hourly wage rate; hourly wage earnings including overtime and bonus pay; the effective wage, which takes into account unpaid overtime; and monthly earnings, with and without additional pay. None of the hourly wage measures exhibits cyclicality except for the group of salaried workers with unpaid overtime. Their effective wages show a strongly procyclical reaction to changes in unemployment. Despite acyclical wage rates, salaried workers without unpaid overtime experienced procyclical earnings movements if they had income from extra pay. Monthly earnings were also procyclical for hourly paid workers with overtime pay. These findings suggest that cyclical earnings movements are generated by variable pay components, such as bonuses and overtime, and by flexible working hours. The degree of earnings procyclicality revealed for the German labor market is comparable to the United States.
Subjects: 
real wage cyclicality
effective wages
unpaid overtime
bonus payments
firm stayers
JEL: 
E32
J31
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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