The foreign firm wage premium in the Israeli tech sector

Abstract

Foreign tech multinationals, which have entered Israel en masse in the past two decades, are known to use high wages to draw in the best talent. While paying higher wages no doubt contributes to the domestic economy, local tech firms have argued that the competition for talent inhibits their growth, and that foreign multinationals contribute less in terms of overall economic value compared to local firms. It is thus of great importance to estimate the foreign firm wage premium – by how much do foreign multinationals pay more for comparable talent? Using an extensive micro-level education data and exploiting worker movement and firm shutdowns/downsizing as an unbiased alternative to AKM methodology, this paper finds the foreign firm wage premium to be in the 3%–4% range, much less than previously estimated.