Joanna K. Swaffield

The Other Margin: Do Minimum Wages Cause Working Hours Adjustments for Low-Wage Workers?

This paper estimates the impact of the introduction of the UK minimum wage on the working hours of low-wage employees using difference-in-differences estimators. The estimates using the employer-based New Earnings Surveys indicate that the introduction of the minimum wage reduced the basic hours of low-wage workers by between 1 and 2 hours per week. The effects on total paid hours are similar (indicating negligible effects on paid overtime) and lagged effects dominate the smaller and less significant initial effects within this. Estimates using the employee-based Labour Force Surveys are typically less significant.

The estimation of union wage differentials and the impact of methodological choices

Abstract This paper demonstrates that methodological differences can matter a lot in the estimation of union/non-union wage differentials. Using individual-level data from the 1991 Wave of the British Household Panel Survey and a model evolved from replicating six existing British studies, we find that the model specification adopted has an important impact on the estimated differential and that the choice of which group means to use when evaluating the mean differential in multi-equation models is of considerable importance. There are also important differences between membership and coverage differentials and the earnings measure used and sample selected also make a difference. However, apart from firm size, the contents of the control vector used is not found to be of great importance.

The Uneven Pace of Deindustrialisation in the OECD

Throughout the OECD, the period since the 1970s saw a secular decline in manufacturings share of GDP and a secular rise in the share of services. Despite this being a central feature of growth, the economic forces behind deindustrialisation and the reasons why its pace varied so markedly across OECD countries are not well understood. Adopting an econometric approach founded in neoclassical production theory, we provide an empirical analysis of the role of changes in relative prices, technology and factor endowments in driving changes in production structure. The speed of adjustment to changes in these determinants of production structure varies across OECD countries and is correlated with levels of employment protection.

Does Measurement Error Bias Fixed‐effects Estimates of the Union Wage Effect?

This paper compares estimates of the union wage effect using cross-section and panel estimators for male manual full-time and female employees using data from the British Household Panel Survey, 1991-97. A comparison of cross-section and panel estimates suggests that unobserved heterogeneity biases cross-section estimates upwards. However, it is also found that the divergence between estimates is overstated because measurement error biases the fixed-effects estimates downward. Reducing measurement error in the union variable by taking averages and restricting changes in union status to occur only when a change in employer and/or job takes place increases fixed-effects estimates of the union wage effect. Copyright 2001 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Estimates of the Impact of Labour Market Attachment and Attitudes on the Female Wage

This paper estimates the returns to full-time and part-time experience and the impact of career interruptions on the female wage using detailed labour market history data from the British Household Panel Survey, 1991-97. We show that the effect of time out of the labour market varies across activity undertaken while out, gender and degree of male occupational domination. Estimates of the unexplained portion of the gender wage differential are shown to reduce by almost 40 per cent when these detailed measures of labour market experience are used. Finally, we show that labour market attitudes have a significant impact on the female wage. Copyright

Minimum Wage Hikes and the Wage Growth of Low‐Wage Workers

This paper presents difference-in-differences estimates of the impact of the British minimum wage on the wage growth of low-wage employees. Estimates of the probability of low-wage employees receiving positive wage growth have been significantly increased by the minimum wage upratings or hikes. However, whether the actual wage growth of these workers has been significantly raised or not depends crucially on the magnitude of the minimum wage hike considered. Findings are consistent with employers complying with the legally binding minimum wage but holding down or offsetting the wage growth that they might have awarded in periods of relatively low minimum wage hikes.