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ABSTRACT The article examines relative wages of immigrants in Spain, with a particular focus on the impact of the Great Recession. The empirical analysis is restricted to men and is based on matched employer-employee microdata and the decomposition techniques of Juhn et al. (1991, 1993) and Fortin et al. (2011). Our results show that the significant native-immigrant wage gap that exists both in terms of average wages and of differentials along the wage distribution is essentially explained by differences in the endowments of observed characteristics so that, in general, immigrants tend to receive a similar wage treatment than Spaniards with analogous observed attributes. On the other hand, the Great Recession has had a noticeable impact on the relative wages of immigrants, given that the significant increase of the native-immigrant wage gap observed during the previous expansionary period was mitigated during the economic downturn due to composition effects arising from the severe employment destruction pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using international harmonized matched employer–employee micro data from the European Structure of Earnings Survey for nine European countries, this article examines the origin of international differences in wage inequality. Wage inequality is highly correlated with the magnitude of inter-firm wage differentials. Workplace- and job-related factors generally have a more significant impact on within-country wage inequality than individual characteristics. European countries differ significantly not only in the extent of wage inequality but also in the relative influence of factors shaping wage inequality. Although cross-country differences in labour force composition play a part in the explanation, differences in the distribution and in labour market prices attached to workplace and job characteristics are the primary factors contributing to international differences in wage inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]