Employer Concentration and Wages for Specialized Workers†

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Thoresson, Anna
• 署名单位: Uppsala University; Uppsala University
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.20210280
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 447-479
• 关键词: labor-market evidence; monopsony; COMPETITION; earnings; DISCRIMINATION; FIRMS; POWER; rise

摘要

This paper studies how wages respond to a sudden change in employer concentration by using the deregulation of the Swedish pharmacy industry. The reform involved a substantial and policy -driven increase in the number of employers that varied by local labor market. Exploiting this variation, elasticities of wages with respect to labor market concentration are estimated between -0.025 and -0.061. The positive wage effects from reduced employer concentration are most prevalent for more mobile workers as well as younger and foreign-born workers. Overall, the paper finds that employer concentration matters for wages in a context where skills are industry specific. (JEL J24, J31, J42, L13, L81, L88)