Fiscal Transfers, Public Sector Wage Premium and the Effects on Private Wages

Revista de Economía y Estadística

FCE-UNC

Lugar: Córdoba; Año: 2009 vol. XLVI p. 41 - 41

0034 8066

e examine the relationship between federal transfers, the existence of a wage premium for the public sector and its effects on private wages in Argentina. The empirical analysis is based on the theoretical presumption that federal fiscal transfers to the different regions are being used to finance more public employment therefore discouraging private activity. The results suggest that the public sector pays a wage premium relative to the private sector. This premium is increasing in the level of per capita federal transfers. There is no evidence of an overall positive effect on wages in the private manufacturing sector. However, we find a significant positive relationship between federal transfers and wages paid to workers with less formal education; for jobs requiring a technical or professional qualification the relationship is negative. These results broadly support the hypothesis that the private sector faces harder competition in the labour market in provinces which receive la