Discussion paper

DP4606 Is Seniority-Based Pay Used as a Motivation Device? Evidence from Plant Level Data

In this Paper we use data from industrial plants to investigate if seniority-based pay is used as a motivational device for production workers. Alternatively, seniority-based pay could simply be a wage-setting rule not necessarily related to the provision of incentives. Unlike previous papers, we use a direct measure of seniority-based pay as well as measures of monitoring devices and piece-rates. We find that firms that offer seniority-based pay are less likely to offer explicit incentives. They are also less likely to invest in monitoring devices. We also find that firms that offer seniority-based pay are more likely to engage in other human resource management policies that result in long employment relationships. Overall these results suggest that seniority-based pay is indeed used as a motivation device.

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Citation

Galdón Sánchez, J, M Güell and A Bayo-Moriones (2004), ‘DP4606 Is Seniority-Based Pay Used as a Motivation Device? Evidence from Plant Level Data‘, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 4606. CEPR Press, Paris & London. https://cepr.org/publications/dp4606