Can a Task-Based Approach Explain the Recent Changes in the German Wage Structure?

Posted: 16 May 2009

See all articles by Dirk Antonczyk

Dirk Antonczyk

University of Freiburg; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Bernd Fitzenberger

Humboldt University of Berlin - School of Business and Economics

Ute Leuschner

University of Freiburg

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: 2008

Abstract

This paper investigates the changes in the German wage structure for full-time working males from 1999 to 2006. Our analysis builds on the task-based approach introduced by Autor et al. (2003), as implemented by Spitz-Oener (2006) for Germany, and also accounts for job complexity. We perform a Blinder-Oaxaca type decomposition of the changes in the entire wage distribution between 1999 and 2006 into the separate effects of personal characteristics and task assignments. In line with the literature, we find a noticeable increase of wage inequality between 1999 and 2006. The decomposition results show that the changes in personal characteristics explain some of the increase in wage inequality whereas the changes in task assignments strongly work towards reducing wage inequality. The coeficient effect for personal characteristics works towards an increase in wage inequality at the top of the wage distribution. The coeficient effect for the task assignments on the contrary shows an inverted U-shaped pattern. We conclude that altogether the task-based approach can not explain the recent increase of wage inequality in Germany.

Keywords: wage inequality, occupations, tasks, skill biased technical change, polarization

JEL Classification: J24, J31, D31, C43

Suggested Citation

Antonczyk, Dirk and Fitzenberger, Bernd and Leuschner, Ute, Can a Task-Based Approach Explain the Recent Changes in the German Wage Structure? (2008). ZEW - Centre for European Economic Research Discussion Paper No. 08-132, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1389446

Dirk Antonczyk (Contact Author)

University of Freiburg ( email )

Fahnenbergplatz
Freiburg, D-79085
Germany

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Bernd Fitzenberger

Humboldt University of Berlin - School of Business and Economics ( email )

Spandauer Str. 1
Berlin, D-10099
Germany

Ute Leuschner

University of Freiburg ( email )

Fahnenbergplatz
Freiburg, D-79085
Germany

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