WAGE STRUCTURE AND LABOR MOBILITY IN SWEDEN, 1970-1990

Forthcoming, The Structure of Wages Within Firms, edited by Edward P. Lazear and Kathryn Shaw.

by Paul Oyer

July 2006

ABSTRACT

Using a matched employer-employee dataset that covers a large proportion of the Swedish private sector, including all industries except finance, I study the evolution of the labor market in Sweden during the 1970’s and 1980’s. Wage structures within and between firms change over this time due to changes in macroeconomic conditions and changes in wage bargaining norms. By the end of the period, wages are less egalitarian. Also, turnover is notably higher, which probably reflects increasing decentralization of bargaining and other changes in the labor market.

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