Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/55065 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 5951
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Labour economists typically assume that pay differences between occupations can be explained with variations in productivity. The empirical evidence on the validity of this assumption is surprisingly thin and subject to various potential biases. The authors use matched employer-employee panel data from Belgium for the years 1999-2006 to examine occupational productivity-wage gaps. They find that occupations play distinct roles for remuneration and productivity: while the estimations indicate a significant upward-sloping occupational wage-profile, the hypothesis of a flat productivity-profile cannot be rejected. The corresponding pattern of over- and underpayment stands up to a series of robustness tests.
Subjects: 
labour productivity
wages
occupations
production function
matched employer-employee data
JEL: 
J24
J31
J44
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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