Competitiveness and Wage Bargaining Reform in Italy

March 16, 2018

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Format: Chicago

Alvar Kangur. Competitiveness and Wage Bargaining Reform in Italy, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2018) accessed December 23, 2024

Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary

The growth of Italian exports has lagged that of euro area peers. Against the backdrop of unit labor costs that have risen faster than those in euro area peers, this paper examines whether there is a competitiveness challenge in Italy and evaluates the framework of wage bargaining. Wages are set at the sectoral level and extended nationally. However, they do not respond well to firm-specific productivity, regional disparities, or skill mismatches. Nominally rigid wages have also implied adjustment through lower profits and employment. Wage developments explain about 45 percent of the manufacturing unit labor cost gap with Germany. In a search-and-match DSGE model of the Italian labor market, this paper finds substantial gains from moving from sectoral- to firm-level wage setting of at least 3.5 percentage points lower unemployment (or higher employment) rate and a notable improvement in Italy’s competitiveness over the medium term.

Subject: Competition, Exports, Financial markets, International trade, Labor, Labor markets, Production, Productivity, Wages

Keywords: Competition, Competitiveness, DSGE models, Europe, Exchange rate, Export price, Exports, Frontier firm TFP level, Global, Institutions in Italy, Italy, Labor costs, Labor market, Labor market reforms, Labor markets, Market share, Negotiated wage limit, Productivity, Productivity differential, Real value, Search and matching, Sectoral wage agreement, Wage agreement, Wage bargaining, Wage dispersion, Wage distribution, Wage externality, Wage markup, Wage-productivity differential, Wages, WP, Zombie firm

Publication Details

Pages:

38
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2018/061
Stock No:

WPIEA2018061
ISBN:

9781484347621
ISSN:

1018-5941

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