Journal of Labor Economics Vol. 26 No. 2 2008

Skill Dispersion and Firm Productivity: An Analysis with Employer‐Employee Matched Data

Susana Iranzo¹; Fabiano Schivardi²; Elisa Tosetti^3,4

¹ Universidad Rovira i Virgili · ² University of Cagliari · ³ University of Cambridge · ⁴ Bridge University

Abstract

We study the relation between workers’ skill dispersion and firm productivity using a unique data set of Italian manufacturing firms with individual records on all their workers. Our measure of skill is the individual worker’s effect from a wage equation. We find that a firm’s productivity is positively related to skill dispersion within occupational status groups (production and nonproduction workers) and negatively related to skill dispersion between these groups. Consistently, most of the overall skill dispersion is within and not between firms. These findings are consistent with some recent hierarchical models of the firms’ organizational structure.

DOI

10.1086/587091

Volume

26

Issue

2

Pages

247-285

Language

en

Sources

openalex crossref

Cite

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