Thomas Mathae, Stephen Millard, Tairi Room, Ladislav Wintr and Robert Wyszynski

How do firms respond to shocks?  Do they first change the hours worked by their employees?  Or the number of employees?  Or wages?  Or a combination?  Does the shock matter?  And the firm’s country?  One way of answering these questions is to ask the managers within firms themselves.  And this is exactly what the Wage Dynamics Network did, surveying firms in 25 European countries. Our research used this survey to answer these questions.  We found that in response to negative shocks firms were most likely to reduce employment, then wages and then hours, regardless of the source of the shock.  But, in response to positive shocks, firms were most likely to raise wages, then employment and then hours.

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