Sources of earnings dispersion in a linked employer-employee dataset : evidence from Norway

Abstract

We estimate a standard human capital earnings model, augmented to allow for different firmspecific wage premia. The earnings of an individual depend on her human capital bundle and the earnings mark-up of the firm she is currently working for. We use linked employer-employee data from Norway which allows us to directly estimate the skill premium as a function of firm specific variables such as plant size, the capital/labour ratio, market share, unionisation and openness to trade. We document the impact of job reallocation and skill sorting on earnings dispersion. We find a large potential effect of labour reallocation on earnings dispersion.