The Effect of Regional Competition and Company-sponsored Training on the Productivity-Wage Wedge

The new training literature argues that imperfect labour market competition drives a wedge between productivity and wage increases in skills. We apply recent advancements in the estimation of production and wage functions to show a compressed wage structure in Germany. We also use regional and industry variation in labour market competitiveness and show that there is a premium on productivity and wages,but the productivity-wage wedge does not diminish in labour markets that are more competitive.