Understanding occupational wage growth

Adrian Adermon (), Simon Ek (), Georg Graetz () and Yaroslav Yakymovych ()
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Adrian Adermon: IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy, Postal: Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy, P O Box 513, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
Simon Ek: IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy, Postal: Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy, P O Box 513, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
Georg Graetz: University of Edinburgh
Yaroslav Yakymovych: Institute for Housing and Urban Research (IBF), Uppsala University

No 2026:12, Working Paper Series from IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy

Abstract: We jointly estimate growth in occupational wage premia as well as time-varying occupation-specific life-cycle profiles for Swedish workers 1996–2013. Our novel identification strategy is based on re-centering of life-cycle profiles around their flat spot. We document a substantial increase in between-occupation wage inequality due to differential growth in premia, and show that changes in worker composition partly counteracted this trend. The association of wage premium growth and employment growth is positive, suggesting that premium growth is predominantly driven by demand-side factors. We also find that wage growth due to occupation-specific skill acquisition was more dispersed in the early years of the sample period. Our results are robust to varying the assumed flat spot over a reasonable range, as well as to allowing for occupation-level changes in returns to cognitive and psycho-social skills. The results suggest that Swedish wage setting institutions have not prevented wages and quantities from adjusting to technological change or consumer demand shifts.

Keywords: Wage Growth; Inequality; Occupational Mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C23 J24 J31 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 54 pages
Date: 2026-06-05
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2026_012

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