Post-Unification Wage Growth in East Germany

Jennifer Hunt

No 2106, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: Following monetary union with west Germany in June 1990 the median real monthly wage of prime age east German workers rose by 83% in six years. I use the German Socio-Economic Panel data to investigate the determinants of this wage growth and some of its implications. For the 1990-1991 period I find that the biggest gainers were low-wage workers generally, and women and the less educated specifically. In the 1991-1996 period the biggest gainers were women and the better educated. Job changing rates were high: a majority of workers had changed jobs by 1996. The return to job changing, particularly changing to a job in the west, was high in 1990-1991 but fell greatly in the later period, so that overall only 18% of wage growth was due to job changing within the east, and 7% to east-west job changing.

Keywords: job changing; Migration; Unions; Wages (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J3 P2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999-03
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Post-Unification Wage Growth in East Germany (2001)
Working Paper: Post-Unification Wage Growth in East Germany (1999)
Working Paper: Post-Unification Wage Growth in East Germany (1998)
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