Abstract
Abstract The statutory minimum wage in Germany was set as an hourly wage. Thus, valid information on gross hourly wages must be calculated from monthly wages and weekly working hours. This paper compares the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) and the (Structure of) Earnings Survey (SES/ES). The sampling and collection of data on employees in the household survey GSOEP, and on jobs in the administrative surveys SES/ES exhibit fundamental conceptual differences. Accordingly, there is variation in the definition of types of employment and in the distribution of the observed units regarding central characteristics. Monthly wages, weekly working hours and gross hourly wages differ especially in the lower range of the respective distribution. Against this backdrop specific implications can be derived for minimum wage research.
Highlights
In the context of empirical labor market research, the analyses of wage distributions and the development of wage inequality are of great importance
We show in more detail similarities and differences between the designs of the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) and the Structure of Earnings Survey (SES)/Earnings Survey (ES) and analyze differences in the wage distributions before and after the minimum wage introduction
In light of the composition of the populations surveyed in the SES/ES and the GSOEP, the following passages show the distributions of monthly remunerations, weekly working hours, and the hourly wages calculated on this basis
Summary
In the context of empirical labor market research, the analyses of wage distributions and the development of wage inequality are of great importance. Since a statutory minimum wage was introduced in Germany in January 2015, being able to define earnings and working hours as well as calculating gross hourly wages based on different data sets has become more important. Given that substantial differences in the survey designs of the GSOEP and the SES/ES remain, the previous results of Falck et al (2013) regarding similar hourly wage distributions are rather surprising. Chapter three provides detailed descriptive comparisons of the sizes of samples and covered populations and the respective distributions of earnings, working hours and gross hourly wages
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