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Earnings, Education, and Fixed‐Term Contracts
Author(s) -
Brown Sarah,
Sessions John G.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
scottish journal of political economy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.4
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1467-9485
pISSN - 0036-9292
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9485.5004007
Subject(s) - earnings , term (time) , wage , economics , differential (mechanical device) , fixed effects model , labour economics , econometrics , panel data , accounting , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering , aerospace engineering
We explore the relationship between earnings, education, and fixed‐term contracts using data from the 1997 British Social Attitudes Survey . We find that the log hourly wage of workers employed under such contracts is approximately 13% lower than that of their ‘permanent’ counterparts, even after controlling for a plethora of personal and job characteristics. Standard decompositions indicate that the vast majority of this differential (more than 70%) is attributable to price effects, which may reflect discrimination on the part of the employer. Such findings may, therefore, suggest that employment protection is appropriate for individuals employed under fixed‐term contracts.