abstract: 'This investigation explores the long-run relationship between the wage

  share in the non-construction private sector and government efforts to

  create jobs in public services and construction of infrastructure and

  houses, in Sweden in 1900 to 2016. In the present article, it is argued

  that the creation of employment with generous wages by the Swedish

  government has increased the bargaining power of workers outside of

  these sectors, thus raising the wage share, up to about 1980.

  Correspondingly, retrenchment from such policy has been detrimental for

  the wage share in recent decades. This argument is supported by the

  results of cointegration tests, estimation of long-run and short-run,

  speed of adjustment, coefficients, as well as by Impulse-response

  functions. While government consumption is often found to be an

  important determinant for the wage share, earlier research has neglected

  the full labor market effect of government job creation associated with

  an expansion of the welfare state. Sweden is an ideal case for studying

  the impact of welfare policy on the wage share, since it has been one of

  the most extensive welfare states and simultaneously has been one of the

  most egalitarian countries in the world.'
affiliation: 'Ahnland, L (Corresponding Author), Stockholm Univ, Ekon Hist Inst, S-10691
  Stockholm, Sweden.

  Ahnland, Lars, Stockholm Univ, Ekon Hist Inst, S-10691 Stockholm, Sweden.'
author: Ahnland, Lars
author-email: lars.ahnland@ekohist.su.se
author_list:
- family: Ahnland
  given: Lars
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1080/0023656X.2020.1731732
earlyaccessdate: FEB 2020
eissn: 1469-9702
files: []
issn: 0023-656X
journal: LABOR HISTORY
keywords: 'Wage share; income inequality; government employment; public sector;

  welfare state'
keywords-plus: LABORS SHARE; UNEMPLOYMENT; RATIO
language: English
month: JUL 3
number: 3-4
number-of-cited-references: '51'
pages: 228-246
papis_id: 23d0d6b51e544727de2603342f56589b
ref: Ahnland2020wageshare
times-cited: '0'
title: The wage share and government job creation in Sweden, 1900-2016
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000516727900001
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '3'
volume: '61'
web-of-science-categories: History; History Of Social Sciences; Industrial Relations
  \& Labor
year: '2020'