Understanding Rising Income Inequality and Stagnating Ordinary Living Standards in Germany

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerhard Bosch ◽  
Thorsten Kalina
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Wage Bargaining ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Social Model ◽  
Real Wages ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

This chapter describes how inequality and real incomes have evolved in Germany through the period from the 1980s, through reunification, up to the economic Crisis and its aftermath. It brings out how reunification was associated with a prolonged stagnation in real wages. It emphasizes how the distinctive German structures for wage bargaining were eroded over time, and the labour market and tax/transfer reforms of the late 1990s-early/mid-2000s led to increasing dualization in the labour market. The consequence was a marked increase in household income inequality, which went together with wage stagnation for much of the 1990s and subsequently. Coordination between government, employers, and unions still sufficed to avoid the impact the economic Crisis had on unemployment elsewhere, but the German social model has been altered fundamentally over the period

scholarly journals Rising Wage Inequality in Mexico, 1984-2000: A Distributional Analysis

2007 ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Gurleen K. Popli
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Wage Inequality ◽  
Counterfactual Analysis ◽  
Distributional Analysis ◽  
Real Wages ◽  
Over Time

In this study we look at distribution of wages to examine the extent and cause of the increasing wage inequality in Mexico over the two decades encompassing 1984 and 2000. To understand the causes of the increase in inequality over time we do a counterfactual analysis. We find that over the last two decades not only did the inequality increase, there also was an erosion of real wages, and it is the middle class which was affected the most. The main reason for the decrease in real wages was declining unionization in the country, while the main reason for the rise in inequality was changing distribution of skills.

“Go Work Over There and Come Do Something Here”

On the Move ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filiz Garip
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Short Duration ◽  
Relative Size ◽  
The United States ◽  
Real Wages ◽  
Large Share ◽  
Household Heads ◽  
Migrant Stream ◽  
Over Time

This chapter discusses a particular group that dominated the migrant stream from Mexico to the United States in 1965. The group contained a large share of men—many of them household heads who were married with children—from rural central-western communities in Mexico. Migrants in the group typically had little education, worked in agriculture in both Mexico and the United States, and took multiple trips of short duration. This group is referred to as circular migrants. Circular migrants declined both in absolute numbers and in relative size over time, accounting for less than 10 percent of new migrants by 2010. Circular migrants declined in numbers as incomes in Mexico rose, real wages in the United States fell, and the budget dedicated to securing the border grew exponentially between 1965 and 2010.

Why Does the Cyclical Behavior of Real Wages Change Over Time?

2004 ◽  
Vol 94 (4) ◽  
pp. 836-856 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin X. D Huang ◽  
Zheng Liu ◽  
Louis Phaneuf
Keyword(s):  
Interwar Period ◽  
Nominal Wage ◽  
Cycle Model ◽  
Real Wages ◽  
Output Structure ◽  
Price Rigidities ◽  
Wage Cyclicality ◽  
Cyclical Behavior ◽  
Business Cycle Model ◽  
Over Time

The cyclical behavior of real wages has evolved from mildly countercyclical during the interwar period to modestly procyclical in the postwar era. This paper presents a general-equilibrium business-cycle model that helps explain the evolution. In the model, changes in the real wage cyclicality arise from interactions between nominal wage and price rigidities and an evolving input-output structure.

scholarly journals Increasing socioeconomic gap between the young and old: temporal trends in health and overall deprivation in England by age, sex, urbanity and ethnicity, 2004–2015

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (7) ◽  
pp. 636-644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evangelos Kontopantelis ◽  
Mamas A Mamas ◽  
Harm van Marwijk ◽  
Iain Buchan ◽  
Andrew M Ryan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Relative Deprivation ◽  
Important Determinant ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Population Characteristics ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Real Wages ◽  
Regional Variability ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Index Of Multiple Deprivation ◽  
Over Time

BackgroundAt a low geographical level, little is known about the associations between population characteristics and deprivation, and their trends, which would be directly affected by the house market, labour pressures and government policies. We describe temporal trends in health and overall deprivation in England by age, sex, urbanity and ethnicity.MethodsRepeated cross-sectional whole population study for England, 2004–2015, at a low geographical level (average 1500 residents). We calculated weighted medians of the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) for each subgroup of interest.ResultsOver time, we observed increases in relative deprivation for people aged under 30, and aged 30–59, while median deprivation decreased for those aged 60 or over. Subgroup analyses indicated that relative overall deprivation was consistently higher for young adults (aged 20–29) and infants (aged 0–4), with increases in deprivation for the latter. Levels of overall deprivation in 2004 greatly varied by ethnicity, with the lowest levels observed for White British and the highest for Blacks. Over time, small reductions were observed in the deprivation gap between White British and all other ethnic groups. Findings were consistent across overall IMD and its health and disability subdomain, but large regional variability was also observed.ConclusionsGovernment policies, the financial crisis of 2008, education funding and the increasing cost of houses relative to real wages are important parameters in interpreting our findings. Socioeconomic deprivation is an important determinant of health and the inequalities this work highlights may have significant implications for future fiscal and healthcare policy.

scholarly journals Inter-city Variation in Prices

2008 ◽  
Vol 47 (4II) ◽  
pp. 877-892 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Ahmad ◽  
Ahmed Gulzar
Keyword(s):  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Cost Of Living ◽  
Real Wages ◽  
Wage Policy ◽  
Migration Patterns ◽  
Urban Inequality ◽  
Minimum Wage Legislation ◽  
The Government ◽  
Over Time

This research has been motivated by the fact that inter-city variation in prices and hence cost of living has implications for many aspects of development and public policy. This is true for all countries and especially for developing countries like Pakistan where one would expect differences in cost of living to be more pronounced (ceterus paribus) due to a relatively underdeveloped transport network and a lack of development of a national common market. A better understanding of the inter-city variation in prices indicates the extent to which markets within countries are integrated. A monitoring of the inter-city price index over time indicates whether the economy as a whole has become more or less integrated over time i.e. has there has been convergence or divergence within the local economy (which has also been one of the objectives of this research). Secondly, a quantification of inter-city variation in cost of living is essential to understand differentials in real incomes across the country. Such an understanding will yield fairer minimum wage legislation by the government and also wage remuneration packages by employers in both the public and private sectors operating in multiple cities thus leading to better equalisation of real wages across locations. As noted by Haworth and Rasmussen (1973) the pursuit of a uniform wage policy by the U.S. Post Office in the 1970s led to greater wage dissatisfaction among workers and labor strikes in areas where cost of living was relatively higher. Thirdly, allowing for cost of living differentials among cities will lead to better estimates of urban inequality and incidence of poverty. In this context it is particularly important to see if differences in cost of living mitigate or accentuate the difference in the magnitude of poverty between richer and poor jurisdictions. The estimation of cost of living differentials will also lead to much greater understanding of migration patterns within countries and the functioning of regional and interregional markets across the country which are directly related to cost of living, and real wages/incomes. For example, if the same minimum wage legislation is applicable to the whole country, it will lead to migration to those cities where cost of living is relative low and hence the real value of the minimum wages is high (ceterus paribus). This illustrates the important implications that uniform minimum wage legislation and welfare packages across the country have for migration patterns when cost of living differentials are significant.

Why Does the Cyclical Behavior of Real Wages Change Over Time?

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin X.D. Huang ◽  
Zheng Liu ◽  
Louis Phaneuf
Keyword(s):  
Real Wages ◽  
Change Over Time ◽  
Cyclical Behavior ◽  
Over Time

scholarly journals Wages of Information Technology Professionals - A Czech and Slovak Republic Case

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-87
Author(s):  
Luboš Marek ◽  
Petr Doucek ◽  
Lea Nedomová
Keyword(s):  
Input Data ◽  
Slovak Republic ◽  
Paper Analysis ◽  
Information Technology Professionals ◽  
Literature Analysis ◽  
Real Wages ◽  
Data Set ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Past ◽  
Over Time

Purpose: The objective of this article is to compare the trend in wages of ICT Professionals in the Czech and Slovak economies during the past two decades. Methodology/Approach: The input data set for ICT Professionals was relatively large - over 2.2 million (of which ICT represented over 60 thousand) in the Czech Republic and 1.1 million (of which ICT represented over 24 thousand) in the Slovak Republic. For the purposes of presented analyses, we used basic statistical methods and characteristics. Findings: We can make the following general conclusions based on our analyses: all analyzed wage characteristics increased over time, with the exception of the economic crisis during 2009-2014 when they stagnate. Research Limitation/Implication: Our data include outliers, especially wages above EUR 4,000. However, these wages, which are relatively rare, significantly influence the total volume of wages. Originality/Value of paper: Analysis of our data offers information about development of average real wages in ICT oriented jobs. There can be found analysis of wages in all sectors in literature. Analysis of ICT Professionals wages is rarely published in journals.

scholarly journals Structural Impediments to African Growth? New Evidence from Real Wages in British Africa, 1880–1965

2012 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 895-926 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewout Frankema ◽  
Marlous Van Waijenburg
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Real Wage ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Real Wages ◽  
Subsistence Level ◽  
Weak Institutions ◽  
Historical Phenomenon ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Over Time

Recent literature on the historical determinants of African poverty has emphasized structural impediments to African growth, such as adverse geographical conditions, weak institutions, or ethnic heterogeneity. But has African poverty been a persistent historical phenomenon? This article checks such assumptions against the historical record. We push African income estimates back in time by presenting urban unskilled real wages for nine British African colonies (1880–1965). We find that African real wages were well above subsistence level and that they rose significantly over time. Moreover, in West Africa and Mauritius real wage levels were considerably higher than those in Asia.

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