Laura Pagani

This paper uses ESES (European Structure of Earnings Survey) data for 1995 in order to investigate the impact of the Italian bargaining system on regional wage differentials and on local wage dispersion. The ESES survey is a large matched employer-employee data-set containing a wealth of information regarding characteristics of both workers and firms. The main findings suggest that in the south of Italy, in specific conditions, the minimum wages established by national sectoral collective agreements oblige some firms to pay higher wages than they would have done had there been no national agreement. In addition, wage dispersion in the south is more compressed for workers covered than for workers not covered by a national collective agreement. These results can be interpreted as indirect evidence for the fact that national collective bargaining creates regional «wage floors».