The 2011 Break in the Part-Time Indicator and the Evolution of Wage Inequality in Germany

German social security records involve an indicator for part-time or full-time work. In 2011, the reporting procedure was changed suggesting that a fraction of worker recorded to be working full-time before the change were in fact part-time workers. This study develops a correction based on estimating the probability of being a part-time worker before and after the break. Using the correction, the paper confirms that the rise in wage inequality among full-time workers in West Germany until 2010 is not a spurious consequence of the misreporting of working time.

Fitzenberger, Bernd and Arnim Seidlitz (2019), The 2011 Break in the Part-Time Indicator and the Evolution of Wage Inequality in Germany, ZEW Discussion Paper No. 19-029, Mannheim.