2010 discussion of: labour markets during recessions – evidence on the role of wage rigidity and...

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2010

Discussion of:

Labour markets during recessions – evidence on the role of wage rigidity and

hysteresis

by Juha Kilponen, David Lodge, Rolf Strauch and Juuso Vanhala

Steinar HoldenDepartment of Economics, University of Oslo

http://folk.uio.no/sholden/Workshop in Sveriges Riksbank

2 September 2010

2010

Research questions

How does the labour market react during financial crises and other downturns?

Are labour market reactions to financial crises systematically different from normal downturns?

Unemployment, employment and outputHysteresis and long-term unemployment

Wages and wage rigidityEmployment and output effects

2010

Overall evaluation

Lots of interesting charts and empirical analyses

Cover a broad range of important issues Provides a useful overview of labour

market reactions in downturns

Does not ”dig deep” on any specific issueOften low statistical significanceLittle analysis of heterogeneity and mechanisms

2010

Business cycle dating

”Throughs and peaks – any quarter lower or higher than the preceding and succeeding two quarters”

2010

Business cycle dating

”Throughs and peaks – any quarter lower or higher than the preceding and succeeding two quarters”

2010

Unemployment rates Nordic countries

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

FinlandNorwaySweden

2010

Unemployment rates Nordic countries

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

FinlandNorwaySweden

2010

Unemployment rates Nordic countries

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

FinlandNorwaySweden

2010

Unemployment rates Nordic countries

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

FinlandNorwaySweden

2010

Productivity growth reduces cost – but not this time (?)

2010

2010

2010

2010

2010

Wage equation

2010

Wage equation

No wage share term – in contrast to theory and to a wealth of evidence on time series and panel data

Blanchflower & Oswald (1994), Nymoen & Rødseth (2003), Holden & Nymoen (2002), Forslund, Gottfries & Westermark (2008), Bårdsen & Nymoen (2009) ……….

2010

2010

2010

Surprising that employment is not found to affect compensation – in contrast to most empirical studies

2010

”Compensation shocks lower employment growth, but regarding output and prices, the demand effect from higher wages seems to prevail and push up both.”

2010

• Confidence bands in crises

2010

• Confidence bands in crises• “The impact on nominal growth rates however exceeds the output

effect. As a result, employment growth drops remarkably and eventually turns negative. “

2010

• Real compensation (?) and unemployment – two changes at the same time make it hard to interpret the results• How to interpret effect on unemployment?

2010

2010

2010

“At the same time, note that there are several

countries where the real product wage had fallen

below 2008Q1 level already prior to 2009Q1. This is

in contrast to the ERM II crisis, where the real wage

shows far more inertia. In fact, the real wage shows

a countercyclical pattern in the large majority of the

countries during the ERM II crisis. This leads us to

conjecture that nominal wage inertia is less

prevalent during the current crisis.”

2010

Producer prices - annual growth rates

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

q2

-6

-4

-2

0

2

4

6

8

10

United States 1EU27 total 2OECD total

2010

Labour compensation – annual growth rates

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

United StatesEU27 totalOECD totalEuro area

2010Other evidence suggest that downward nominal wage rigidity is weaker

(Holden & Wulfsberg, 2010)

2010

2010

2010

2010

Summing up

Lots of interesting charts and empirical analyses

Cover a broad range of important issues Provides a useful overview of labour

market reactions in downturns

Does not ”dig deep” on any specific issueOften low statistical significanceLittle analysis of heterogeneity and mechanisms

2010

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