What Happened to Wage and Non-Employment Structures During the 'Dutch Employment Miracle'?

University of St. Gallen Economics Discussion Paper No. 2004-04

35 Pages Posted: 8 Apr 2004

See all articles by Patrick A. Puhani

Patrick A. Puhani

Leibniz Universität Hannover; University of St. Gallen - Swiss Institute for International Economics and Applied Economic Research; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Université Paris II - Panthéon-Assas

Date Written: November 2003

Abstract

The Netherlands have experienced an employment miracle since the 1980s. This note investigates what happened to the wage, unemployment, and non-employment structures between 1988 and 1998, when both unemployment and non-employment rates decreased markedly. Surprisingly, I find no significant changes in the wage structures, although there clearly was wage moderation on average. Although there have also been virtually no changes in the unemployment structure, the relative non-employment of older workers (due to incentives to retire) and men increased. Whereas supply effects and early retirement schemes can explain the constancy of the returns to age, the lack of an increase in the returns to education remains a puzzle in the face of well-documented skill-biased technological change in other major industrialised countries.

Keywords: Earnings, flexibility, labour

JEL Classification: J21, J31, J64

Suggested Citation

Puhani, Patrick A., What Happened to Wage and Non-Employment Structures During the 'Dutch Employment Miracle'? (November 2003). University of St. Gallen Economics Discussion Paper No. 2004-04, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=526063 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.526063

Patrick A. Puhani (Contact Author)

Leibniz Universität Hannover ( email )

Institut für Arbeitsökonomik
Koenigsworther Platz 1
30167 Hannover, DE 30167
Germany

University of St. Gallen - Swiss Institute for International Economics and Applied Economic Research ( email )

Dufourstr. 48
St. Gallen, 9000
Switzerland
+41 71 224 2341 (Phone)
+41 71 224 2298 (Fax)

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Université Paris II - Panthéon-Assas

12 place du Pantheon
Paris cedex 06, 75231
France

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