Fear, Unemployment and Pay Flexibility / David G. Blanchflower.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Blanchflower, David G.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w3365.

NBER working paper series no. w3365

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Employee attitude surveys.

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1990.

Cambridge, Mass. : National Bureau of Economic Research, 1990.

Summary:

The paper uses newly available cross-section data to study wage determination in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. The results are contrasted with those from a comparable sample from the US from 1977-1988.

1) Fear of unemployment substantially depresses pay in both countries.

2) There is some evidence of a wage ratchet in the UK whereby rates of pay are more flexible upwards than downwards.

3) The unemployment elasticity of pay averages -0.1 in the UK and apparently zero in the US.

4) Wages are almost twice as flexible in non-union and small workplaces in the UK.

Notes:

Print version record

May 1990.