February 2007

IZA DP No. 2622: Worker Mobility, Displacement, Redeployment and Wage Dynamics in Italy

We investigate various stylized facts on wage growth, labor mobility and firm size, to date unexplored in Italy. Using a wage decomposition that allows to separate “individual premiums” from firm-effects, we ascertain: (1) whether movers are better off than stayers; (2) whether firm size affects the outcome of workers’ mobility across; and (3) the extent to which did job displacement and redeployment inflict wage losses to downsized workers. The sample – a closed panel of full-time male employees, aged 20-50, at work from 1986 to 1991 – is drawn from the employer-employee linked database WHIP (Work Histories Italian Panel).