Firms' price and wage adjustment in Europe: Survey evidence on nominal stickiness

Martine Druant, Silvia Fabiani (), Gabor Kezdi, Ana Lamo, Fernando Martins and Roberto Sabbatini ()

Labour Economics, 2012, vol. 19, issue 5, 772-782

Abstract: This paper presents new evidence on the patterns of price and wage adjustment in European firms and on the extent of nominal rigidities. It uses a unique dataset collected through a firm-level survey conducted in 17 European countries and covering various sectors. Several conclusions are drawn from this evidence. Firms adjust wages less frequently than prices, on average every 15 and 10months, respectively. Price and, especially, wage adjustment exhibit a substantial degree of time-dependence. In particular, wage changes tend to cluster at a specific time of the year, mostly January in the majority of countries. The results of a multivariate analysis indicate that prices are more flexible when competitive pressures in product markets are strong and when labor costs account for a lower fraction of firms' total costs, whereas wages are more flexible when bargaining is decentralized and when the coverage of collective bargaining and the stringency of employment protection legislation are low. Price rigidities are higher in firms with a larger share of high-skilled/white-collar workers.

Keywords: Wage rigidity; Price rigidity; Indexation; Time dependence; Labor market institutions; Survey (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D21 E30 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (69)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:labeco:v:19:y:2012:i:5:p:772-782

DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2012.03.007

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