Arbeitspapier

The link between labor cost and price inflation in the euro area

This paper documents, for the first time in a systematic manner, the link between labor cost and price inflation in the euro area. Using country and sector quarterly data over the period 1985Q1-2018Q1 we find a strong link between labor cost and price inflation in the four major economies of the euro area and across the three main sectors. The dynamic interaction between prices and wages is time-varying and depends on the state of the economy and on the shocks hitting the economy. Our results show that it is more likely that labor costs are passed on to price inflation with demand shocks than with supply shocks. However, the pass-through is systematically lower in periods of low inflation as compared to periods of high inflation. These results confirm that, under circumstances of predominantly demand shocks, labor cost increases will be passed on to prices. Coming from a period of low inflation, however, this pass-through could be moderate at least until inflation stably reaches a sustained path.

ISBN
978-92-899-3497-8
Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: ECB Working Paper ; No. 2235

Classification
Wirtschaft
Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models: Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models
Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
Subject
Inflation
pass-through
labor costs
structural VAR
euro area

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Bobeica, Elena
Ciccarelli, Matteo
Vansteenkiste, Isabel
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
European Central Bank (ECB)
(where)
Frankfurt a. M.
(when)
2019

DOI
doi:10.2866/894414
Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET

Data provider

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Bobeica, Elena
  • Ciccarelli, Matteo
  • Vansteenkiste, Isabel
  • European Central Bank (ECB)

Time of origin

  • 2019

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