How elastic is labor demand? A meta-analysis for the German labor market

Popp, Martin

doi:10.1186/s12651-023-00337-8

Journal for Labour Market Research

Table 2 Own-wage elasticity of labor demand by attributes

From: How elastic is labor demand? A meta-analysis for the German labor market

	Own-wage elasticity of labor demand
	Mean	Median	Standard deviation	Observations	Share
Empirical model
Structural-form model	− 0.493	− 0.395	0.637	404	0.573
Reduced-form model	− 0.346	− 0.229	0.410	301	0.427
Output decision
Conditional	− 0.423	− 0.290	0.564	650	0.922
Unconditional	− 0.509	− 0.460	0.449	55	0.078
Instrumentation of wage variable
Without instrumental variable	− 0.412	− 0.320	0.502	531	0.753
With instrumental variable	− 0.485	− 0.270	0.694	174	0.247
Within-unit variation
Without unit fixed effects	− 0.339	− 0.208	0.516	284	0.403
With unit fixed effects	− 0.491	− 0.380	0.574	421	0.597
Time horizon
Short-run	− 0.174	− 0.091	0.235	152	0.216
Medium-run	− 0.496	− 0.390	0.569	241	0.342
Long-run	− 0.504	− 0.409	0.618	312	0.443
Capital stock
Quasi-fixed	− 0.441	− 0.330	0.550	282	0.400
Flexible	− 0.444	− 0.285	0.634	267	0.379
None	− 0.385	− 0.299	0.404	156	0.221
Unit of observation
Firm	− 0.443	− 0.360	0.607	251	0.356
Industry or region	− 0.428	− 0.280	0.533	437	0.620
Economy	− 0.288	− 0.240	0.233	17	0.024
Margin of adjustment
Worker	− 0.428	− 0.311	0.542	576	0.817
Hours per worker	− 0.348	− 0.120	0.436	10	0.014
Overall hours	− 0.455	− 0.320	0.638	114	0.162
Not stated	− 0.296	− 0.270	0.314	5	0.007
Industry
Overall	− 0.453	− 0.360	0.536	305	0.433
Non-manufacturing	− 0.504	− 0.265	0.786	77	0.109
Manufacturing	− 0.390	− 0.263	0.506	323	0.458
Region
Overall	− 0.510	− 0.440	0.560	315	0.447
West Germany	− 0.350	− 0.235	0.558	344	0.488
East Germany	− 0.483	− 0.370	0.423	46	0.065
Open economy
Overall	− 0.412	− 0.300	0.558	613	0.870
Non-exporting or national firm	− 0.502	− 0.427	0.426	12	0.017
Exporting or multinational firm	− 0.557	− 0.391	0.546	80	0.113
Skill level
Overall	− 0.387	− 0.260	0.493	424	0.601
Low-skilled	− 0.720	− 0.635	0.811	104	0.148
Medium-skilled	− 0.325	− 0.280	0.410	79	0.112
High-skilled	− 0.435	− 0.352	0.533	79	0.112
Medium- or high-skilled	− 0.213	− 0.190	0.144	19	0.027
Job type
Overall	− 0.432	− 0.313	0.558	655	0.929
White-collar	− 0.265	− 0.141	0.609	18	0.026
Blue-collar	− 0.479	− 0.381	0.484	32	0.045
Contract type
Overall	− 0.400	− 0.270	0.547	598	0.848
Typical employment	− 0.603	− 0.496	0.649	81	0.115
Atypical employment	− 0.576	− 0.627	0.278	26	0.037
Gender
Overall	− 0.410	− 0.289	0.543	631	0.895
Male	− 0.652	− 0.512	0.737	44	0.062
Female	− 0.527	− 0.395	0.436	30	0.043
Data
Time series	− 0.373	− 0.250	0.589	151	0.214
Cross section	− 0.486	− 0.420	0.613	34	0.048
Panel	− 0.443	− 0.324	0.542	520	0.738
Publication format
Refereed article	− 0.417	− 0.311	0.520	376	0.533
Non-refereed article	− 0.434	− 0.315	0.560	234	0.332
Book or collection	− 0.472	− 0.273	0.674	95	0.135
Overall	− 0.430	− 0.310	0.556	705	1.000

The table displays descriptive statistics for the own-wage elasticity of labor demand by different attributes in the full meta-sample. Source: Own illustration

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