JAN BABECKY, affiliation not provided to SSRN
Email: Jan.Babetsky@bof.fi
PHILIP DU CAJU, National Bank of Belgium
Email: philip.ducaju@nbb.be
THEODORA KOSMA, affiliation not provided to SSRN
Email: tkosma@bankofgreece.gr
MARTINA LAWLESS, Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland - Economic Analysis and Research Department
Email: martina.lawless@centralbank.ie
JULIÃ?N MESSINA, affiliation not provided to SSRN
Email: jmessina@worldbank.org
TAIRI RÕÕM, Bank of Estonia
Email: tairi.room@epbe.ee

It has been well established that the wages of individual workers react little, especially downwards, to shocks that hit their employer. This paper presents new evidence from a unique survey of firms across Europe on the prevalence of downward wage rigidity in both real and nominal terms. We analyse which firm-level and institutional factors are associated with wage rigidity. Our results indicate that it is related to workforce composition at the establishment level in a manner that is consistent with related theoretical models (e.g. efficiency wage theory, insider-outsider theory). We also find that wage rigidity depends on the labour market institutional environment. Collective bargaining coverage is positively related with downward real wage rigidity, measured on the basis of wage indexation. Downward nominal wage rigidity is positively associated with the extent of permanent contracts and this effect is stronger in countries with stricter employment protection regulations.

KEVIN AMESS, Nottingham University Business School
Email: kevin.amess@nottingham.ac.uk
JUN DU, Economics and Strategy, Aston Business School, Aston University
Email: j.du@aston.ac.uk
SOURAFEL GIRMA, Nottingham University Business School
Email: sourafel.girma@nottingham.ac.uk

This paper is the first paper to present findings evaluating the consequences for employees of full and partial privatization using difference-in-differences combined with propensity score matching. We find: (1) partial privatization causes job creation in contrast to full privatization, which destroys jobs, (2) full privatization causes higher labor productivity improvement than partial privatization, (3) wage increases occur only in partially privatized firms and (4) there are small increases in labor quality investment in both cases. The results suggest partial privatization exploits market discipline to induce labor productivity improvement whilst simultaneously providing welfare improvements for labor. This is the ‘win-win’ outcome predicted by the ‘helping hand’ theory of government. Our results suggest that governments are likely to gain wider support for a program of partial privatization rather than full privatization.

CRAIG COPELAND, Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)
Email: COPELAND@EBRI.ORG

This paper closely examines the level of participation by workers in public- and private-sector employment-based pension or retirement plans, based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s March 2009 Current Population Survey (CPS), the most recent data currently available. About 56 percent of all working-age (21-64) wage and salary employees work for an employer or union that sponsors a retirement plan. Among full-time, full-year wage and salary workers ages 21-64 (those with the strongest connection to the work force), just under 63 percent worked for an employer or union that sponsors a plan, and just under 55 percent participated in a retirement plan. The paper begins with an overview of retirement plan types and participation in these types of plans. Next, it describes the data used in this study, along with their relative strengths and weaknesses. From these data, results on participation in employment-based retirement plans are analyzed for 2008 across various worker characteristics and those of their employers. The paper then explores retirement plan participation across U.S. geographic regions, including a state-by-state comparison and a comparison of certain consolidated statistical areas (CSAs). In addition to the results for 2008, trends from 1987-2008 in employment-based retirement plan participation are presented across many of the same worker and employer characteristics as used for 2008. Furthermore, an accounting of the number of workers who work for an employer that does not sponsor a plan and of workers who do not participate in a plan is provided by various demographic and employer characteristics. The paper concludes with a discussion of this study’s findings.

ANDY DANFORD, University of the West of England - Bristol Business School
Email: Andrew.Danford@uwe.ac.uk
SUE DURBIN, University of the West of England
Email: sue.durbin@uwe.ac.uk
MIKE RICHARDSON, University of the West of England - School of Marketing
Email: michael2.richardson@uwe.ac.uk

This paper provides case study analysis of the workplace experiences of British scientists working in the field of climatology. In the context of the restructuring of work organisation brought about by the interplay between the commercialisation of science and state modernisation policies, the paper provides evidence of a deterioration in scientists' quality of working life.

GIAN LUCA CLEMENTI, NYU Stern School of Business
Email: gclement@stern.nyu.edu
THOMAS F. COOLEY, Leonard N. Stern School of Business - Department of Economics, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Email: tcooley@stern.nyu.edu

In this paper we describe the important features of executive compensation in the US from 1993 to 2006. Some confirm what has been found for earlier periods and some are novel. Important facts about compensation are that: the compensation distribution is highly skewed; each year, a sizeable fraction of chief executives lose money; the use of equity grants has increased; the income accruing to CEOs from the sale of stock has increased; regardless of the measure we adopt, compensation responds strongly to innovations in shareholder wealth; measured as dollar changes in compensation, incentives have strengthened over time, measured as percentage changes in wealth, they have not changed in any appreciable way.

Institutional subscribers to the NBER working paper series, and residents of developing countries may download this paper without additional charge at www.nber.org.

CLAUDIA MUENCH, affiliation not provided to SSRN
Email: claudia.muench@hotmail.de
SWEDER VAN WIJNBERGEN, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Tinbergen Institute, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Email: svw.heas@planet.nl

We analyze the determinants of female labor market participation for different age-groups in the European Union. We show that female participation is positively affected by tertiary education at any age. But upper secondary education increases participation only up to an age of 40 while after that it has no effect or even a negative impact The results are tested for robustness and controlled for endogeneity. The results show that increasing educational attainment levels in the female population will contribute significantly to higher aggregate participation rates. However,in simulations up to 2050 such benefits are partially offset by a negative aging effect.