Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0




Author-Name: Lorenzo Cappellari
Author-X-Name-First: Lorenzo
Author-X-Name-Last: Cappellari
Author-Email: lorenzo.cappelleri@unicatt.it
Author-Workplace-Name: Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
Author-Workplace-Name: Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
Author-Name: Bernardo Fanfani
Author-X-Name-First: Bernardo
Author-X-Name-Last: Fanfani


Title: Collective Bargaining and the Wage Structure.


Abstract: We study how updates in pay floors set by collective bargaining agreements (CBAs)
shape the wage structure in Italy. We estimate stacked event-panel difference-indifferences
models around changes of contractual minima and trace distributional impacts.
Pay-floor hikes of 2.2% on average raise mean log FTE daily wages by 2.2%, but
effects are near zero at the 10th percentile and stronger at the 90th, implying inequalityenhancing
wage-rate responses. This asymmetry reflects both within-agreement heterogeneity,
as lower-paid workers within CBAs respond less, and between-agreement
heterogeneity, as low-wage CBAs exhibit weaker pass-through. Non-compliance with
pay floors is higher in low-wage CBAs, thus it is a potential driver of asymmetries even
if its level is not affected by wage updates. Pay-floor hikes reduce employment and days
worked only among low-wage workers and only among full-time jobs, which may further
contribute to the muted wage response in the lower tail through selection mechanisms. 
Length: 45
Creation-Date: 2026-07
File-URL: http://dipartimenti.unicatt.it/economia-finanza-def155.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-Function: First version, 2026
Number: def155
Classification-JEL: J31, J38, J51.
Keywords: collective bargaining, contractual minimum wages, wage structure.
Handle: RePEc:ctc:serie1:def155