César Rodríguez Gutiérrez

Wage differences among Ph.D.s by area of knowledge: are science areas better paid than humanities and social ones? The Spanish case

This paper analyses wage differences among workers with doctoral studies depending on their specialised area of knowledge (humanities and social studies or science) and on their type of job (university teacher or other professional activity). Traditionally, science-related activities have been associated with higher wages than humanities and social studies ones due to the fact that the market tends to value higher the productivity of disciplines considered to be sciences. By estimating an endogenous switching model and applying the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition, we have observed the existence of a positive wage difference in favour of Ph.D.s of humanities or social studies for university teachers, and for the Ph.D.s of science in other professions.This paper analyses wage differences among workers with doctoral studies depending on their specialised area of knowledge (humanities and social studies or science) and on their type of job (university teacher or other professional activity). Traditionally, science-related activities have been associated with higher wages than humanities and social studies ones due to the fact that the market tends to value higher the productivity of disciplines considered to be sciences. By estimating an endogenous switching model and applying the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition, we have observed the existence of a positive wage difference in favour of Ph.D.s of humanities or social studies for university teachers, and for the Ph.D.s of science in other professions.

Collective bargaining, wage dispersion and the economic cycle: Spanish evidence

This research analyses the effect of a ‘two-tier’ system of collective bargaining (firm bargaining and multi-employer bargaining levels) on wage dispersion in Spain. The effect of collective bargaining on the two main concepts that make up wages (the contractual or basic-bargained wage, and the wage cushion) are analysed during the last period of the upward cycle (2002–2006) and the beginning of the global financial crisis (2006–2010). The wage cushion is defined as the difference between the earned wage and the basic-bargained wage. The results show that workers covered by firm bargaining experienced greater wage dispersion than workers covered by multi-employer bargaining. On the other hand, wage dispersion for all workers decreased during the analysis period, mainly during the first stage of the current economic crisis, and particularly among workers covered by multi-employer bargaining. Both the decreasing relevance of the wage cushion in actual wage formation and its reduced dispersion make it possible to explain this wage compression.