In this paper we examine the persistent effects of past wages of displaced workers on the probability of finding a new job and on wages in the new job. We use a new database looking at the post-displacement experience of a sample of Belgian workers who have lost their jobs because of a sizeable...

In this paper, we demonstrate substantial heterogeneity in wage growth across firms within industry, and across workers within firm in Belgium. This variation does not appear to be consistent with simple measurement error stories, but rather seems to be evidence of a more complex labor market....

Using longitudinal matched employer-employee data, we show that a standard wage equation ignoring firm and individual effects yields a baseline explaining 36 percent of wage variation. Firm specific wage components, including common firm-wide omitted human capital, accounts for an additional 22...