The Distribution of Earnings in Spain During the 1980s: the Effects of Skill, Unemployment, and Union Power

In this paper we analyze changes in the conditional distributions of male earnings in Spain during the 1980s. We use a large new database of records on individual workers and firms from the Spanish Social Security system for the period 1980-1987. The data set is an unbalanced panel subject to censoring due to top and bottom coding. We analyze the behavior of returns to skill and experience, across sectors and over time. We also study how these returns have been affected over the period by a host of aggregate and sector-specific factors, including unemployment rates and the sectoral coverage of trade union collective agreements.