Do exporters really pay higher wages?: first evidence from German linked employer-employee data

Thorsten Schank; Claus Schnabel; Joachim Wagner

Do exporters really pay higher wages? first evidence from German linked employer-employee data

Thorsten Schank
, Claus Schnabel
, Joachim Wagner

Research output: Working paper › Working papers

Abstract

Many plant-level studies find that average wages in exporting firms are higher than in non-exporting firms from the same industry and region. This paper uses a large set of linked employer-employee data from Germany to analyze this exporter wage premium. We show that the wage differential becomes smaller but does not completely vanish when observable and unobservable characteristics of the employees and of the work place are controlled for. For example, blue-collar (white-collar) employees working in a plant with an export-sales ratio of 60 percent earn about 1.8 (0.9) percent more than similar employees in otherwise identical non-exporting plants.

Original language	English
Place of Publication	Lüneburg
Publisher	Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre der Universität Lüneburg
Number of pages	35
Publication status	Published - 06.2006

Bibliographical note

We thank Mark Roberts and participants at the European Trade Study Group ETSG conference in Nottingham in September 2004 as well as two referees and a co-editor of this journal for extremely helpful comments that guided us in the revision of an earlier version which circulates as IZA Discussion Paper No. 1185 since June 2004. Many thanks also go to Susanne Rässler and Hermann Gartner for helpful discussions and for providing their (unpublished) multiple imputation algorithm, and to Manfred Antoni for technical assistance

Research areas and keywords

Economics
Exports
Wages
Exporter wage premium
Linked employer-employee data
Germany

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1 Journal articles

Do Exporters Really Pay Higher Wages? First Evidence from German Linked Employer-Employee Data
Schank, T., Schnabel, C. & Wagner, J., 05.2007, In: Journal of International Economics. 72, 1, p. 52-74 23 p.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
173 Citations (Scopus)

Cite this

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title = "Do exporters really pay higher wages?: first evidence from German linked employer-employee data",

abstract = "Many plant-level studies find that average wages in exporting firms are higher than in non-exporting firms from the same industry and region. This paper uses a large set of linked employer-employee data from Germany to analyze this exporter wage premium. We show that the wage differential becomes smaller but does not completely vanish when observable and unobservable characteristics of the employees and of the work place are controlled for. For example, blue-collar (white-collar) employees working in a plant with an export-sales ratio of 60 percent earn about 1.8 (0.9) percent more than similar employees in otherwise identical non-exporting plants.",

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AB - Many plant-level studies find that average wages in exporting firms are higher than in non-exporting firms from the same industry and region. This paper uses a large set of linked employer-employee data from Germany to analyze this exporter wage premium. We show that the wage differential becomes smaller but does not completely vanish when observable and unobservable characteristics of the employees and of the work place are controlled for. For example, blue-collar (white-collar) employees working in a plant with an export-sales ratio of 60 percent earn about 1.8 (0.9) percent more than similar employees in otherwise identical non-exporting plants.

KW - Economics

KW - Exports

KW - Wages

KW - Exporter wage premium

KW - Linked employer-employee data

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M3 - Working papers

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BT - Do exporters really pay higher wages?

PB - Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre der Universität Lüneburg

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ER -

Do exporters really pay higher wages? first evidence from German linked employer-employee data

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Research areas and keywords

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Research output

Do Exporters Really Pay Higher Wages? First Evidence from German Linked Employer-Employee Data

Cite this