Wage Dispersion, Over-Qualification, and Reder Competition

Artikel

The expansion of higher education in the Western countries has been accompanied by a marked widening of wage differentials and increasing over-qualification. While the increase in wage differentials has been attributed to skill-biased technological change that made advanced skills scarce, this explanation does not fit well with the observed increase in over-qualification which suggests that advanced skills are in excess supply. By ?Reder-competition? I refer to the simultaneous adjustment of wage offers and hiring standards in response to changing labor market conditions. I present a simple model of Reder competition that depicts wages as driven by labor heterogeneity, rather than scarcity. The mechanism may give rise to a simultaneous increase in wage differentials and over-qualification.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Journal: Economics: The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal ; ISSN: 1864-6042 ; Volume: 1 ; Year: 2007 ; Issue: 2007-13 ; Pages: 1-31 ; Kiel: Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Market Structure, Pricing, and Design: Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection ; Labor Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs ; Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
• Subject: Hiring standards ; employment criteria ; selection wages ; efficiency wages ; mobility ; skillbiased technological change ; heterogeneity-biased technological change ; over-qualification ; over-education ; wage dispersion ; Reder competition ; Personalbeschaffung ; Qualifikation ; Lohndifferenzierung ; Überqualifikation ; Technischer Fortschritt

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Schlicht, Ekkehart
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)
• (where): Kiel
• (when): 2007

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.5018/economics-ejournal.ja.2007-13
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/18011
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET