Survey evidence on wage rigidity and unemployment: Sweden in the 1990s

Jonas Agell and Per Lundborg

No 1999:2, Working Paper Series from IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy

Abstract: This study reports the results from a repeat survey among managers in Swedish manufacturing, designed to explore how a severe and prolonged macroeconomic shock affects wage rigidity and unemployment. Our second survey was conducted in 1998, when the unemployment rate was much higher, and the inflation rate much lower, than when we conducted the first survey in 1991. We find no evidence that the increase in unemployment has softened the mechanisms generating wage rigidity. On the contrary, we conclude that - because of severe downward nominal wage rigidity - real wages have become more rigid during Sweden's move to a low-inflation environment. We also report a range of new evidence on underbidding, efficiency wage mechanisms, job security legislation, workers' wage norms, and to what extent the long-term unemployed are subject to statistical discrimination

Keywords: Unemployment; Wage rigidity; Repeat survey; Recession (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 J41 J63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 1999-06-29
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

Published in Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 2003, pages 15-29.

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Related works:
Journal Article: Survey Evidence on Wage Rigidity and Unemployment: Sweden in the 1990s* (2003)
Working Paper: Survey Evidence on Wage Rigidity and Unemployment: Sweden in the 1990s (1999)
Working Paper: Survey Evidence on Wage Rigidity and Unemployment: Sweden in the 1990s (1999)
Working Paper: Survey evidence on wage rigidity and unemployment: Sweden in the 1990s
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