1887

OECD Productivity Working Papers

The OECD Productivity Papers are associated with the Global Forum on Productivity that provides a forum for mutual exchange of information and fosters international co-operation between public bodies with responsibility for promoting productivity-enhancing policies, including in undertaking joint policy analysis. It offers a platform for exchanging views, experiences and information, institutional and governance arrangements and government structures, with a view towards developing better policies. The Forum extends existing work in the OECD through a well-prioritised and coherent stream of analytical work serving the policy research needs of participants on the drivers of productivity growth.

English

Productivity-wage nexus at the firm-level in Portugal

Decoupling and divergences

There is a growing international concern about the slowdown in productivity growth, especially as labor productivity enhancements are important drivers of higher generalised living standards.

Using administrative data of firms in Portugal between 2010 and 2016, we analyse the relationships between productivity and wages. At odds with neoclassical theory of marginal productivity of labor, we find that two thirds of firms insufficiently raised wages given observed productivity growth. Employing unconditional quantile regressions, we investigate some quantifiable determinants of the productivity-wage gap at different parts of the distributions. Most of the documented dynamics contributed not only to the divergence of productivity and wages but also to the decoupling of productivity and wage growth. We argue that labor market flexibilisation intensified segmentation, providing incentives for non standard contracts. Both dimensions, as well as higher board compensations, international trade and on-the-job training weakened the link between productivity and wages.

English

Keywords: income distribution, Productivity, wage share, public policy, compensation, Quantile regressions
JEL: D33: Microeconomics / Distribution / Factor Income Distribution; C3: Mathematical and Quantitative Methods / Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables; D31: Microeconomics / Distribution / Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions; J38: Labor and Demographic Economics / Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs / Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: Public Policy; J31: Labor and Demographic Economics / Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs / Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials; D2: Microeconomics / Production and Organizations
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error