Pensions, Efficiency Wages, and Job Mobility

Abstract

This paper finds that compensation premia and not pension backloading are responsible for the low mobility rates from jobs with pensions. Compensation premia, which may represent efficiency wages, are calculated as the difference in compensation between the current job and the best alternative job, allowing for the fact that such premia are observed only for job changers. The amount of pension backloading is calculated from data provided by employers to the Survey of Consumer Finances, greatly improving the precision of measurement over past efforts. This finding has important implications for labor market analysis and for policies concerning pension regulation.