We participated in XI Ogólnopolska Konferencja Naukowa im. Profesora Zbigniewa Czerwińskiego Matematyka i informatyka na usługach ekonomii, which was great opportunity to present our ongoing work on evolution of labor share in Poland from firm-level data. While firm-level studies of economic phenomena are of key policy relevance, census data and representative samples are scarcely available across countries. In our study we obtain estimates of labor share for the period 1995-2019 from Orbis data. For the overlapping period and samples, we compare our estimates to Growiec (2009), who drew on census of Polish firms employing 50+ employees and we also refer to OCED StAN data and national accounts. We find new facts about labor share in Poland. First, we record that labor share recovered since late 2010s, after decline in early 2000s. Second, among SMEs we observe increasing trend in labor share, though it is lower among SMEs than among firms with 49+ employees. Furthermore we note that SMEs have consistently small contribution of to the aggregate labor share. Finally, we draw a conclusion that aggregate labor share understates labor share in most firms, since aggregate measure is dominated by labor share of the biggest firms.

1. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Labour share in Poland from Orbis
New evidence from firm-level data
Hubert Drażkowski & Sebastian Zalas
FAME|GRAPE, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Warsaw
Matematyka i informatyka na uslugach ekonomii
September 2022
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

2. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Motivation
Global trend: secular decline of labour share
Cross-country evidence
(e.g., Karabarbounis and Neiman 2014)
Firm-level evidence across countries:
(e.g. Autor et al. 2020, Kehrig and Vincent 2021, Mertens 2022, Oberfield and Raval 2021)
Main reasons: shift of value added to low-labour share firms, rise of market power,
globalization
Poland: among the lowest labor shares in the EU
Evidence from aggregates: decline of labour share, expiring in 2010
(Kónya et al. 2020)
Lacking firm-level data: the single study Growiec (2009)
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

3. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Our contribution: novel firm-level dataset for Poland
What is new about our study? 10 waves of Orbis!
1 Expand the time covered → 25 years
2 Expand the types of firms covered → include SMEs
Our data: ≈720k firm-year observations
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

4. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Our contribution: novel firm-level dataset for Poland
What is new about our study? 10 waves of Orbis!
1 Expand the time covered → 25 years
2 Expand the types of firms covered → include SMEs
Our data: ≈720k firm-year observations
3 Study credibility of Orbis data
→ Compare to aggregates (OECD STAN) and registry data (Growiec 2009)
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

5. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Our contribution: novel firm-level dataset for Poland
What is new about our study? 10 waves of Orbis!
1 Expand the time covered → 25 years
2 Expand the types of firms covered → include SMEs
Our data: ≈720k firm-year observations
3 Study credibility of Orbis data
→ Compare to aggregates (OECD STAN) and registry data (Growiec 2009)
4 Investigate features of labor share in Poland
→ Time patterns
→ Sectors (manufacturing vs services)
→ Size (SMEs vs large firms)
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

6. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Table of contents
1 Data
2 Results
3 Conclusions
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

7. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Data
Our dataset: 10 waves of Orbis data, 1995-2019
Labour share = payroll/value added
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

8. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Data
Our dataset: 10 waves of Orbis data, 1995-2019
Labour share = payroll/value added
180k+ unique firms, 4+ years on average, so ≈ 720k+ observations
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

9. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Data
Our dataset: 10 waves of Orbis data, 1995-2019
Labour share = payroll/value added
180k+ unique firms, 4+ years on average, so ≈ 720k+ observations
Sectors: manufacturing & market services
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

10. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Data
Our dataset: 10 waves of Orbis data, 1995-2019
Labour share = payroll/value added
180k+ unique firms, 4+ years on average, so ≈ 720k+ observations
Sectors: manufacturing & market services
Size: 49+ employees vs 49- employees,
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

11. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Data
Our dataset: 10 waves of Orbis data, 1995-2019
Labour share = payroll/value added
180k+ unique firms, 4+ years on average, so ≈ 720k+ observations
Sectors: manufacturing & market services
Size: 49+ employees vs 49- employees, but employment sometimes missing
380+k observed fully
additional 180+k observations obtained from firm-level history
final 140+ observations imputed
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

12. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Results
Labour share grows for 49-, but low contribution to the aggregate
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

13. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Results
Labour share grows for 49-, but low contribution to the aggregate
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

14. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Results
Tendency common for manufacturing and services
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

15. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Results
Time trends common along the distribution of VA
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

16. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Results
Labour share: Orbis vs Growiec (2009) and OCED STAN
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

17. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Results
Labour share: Orbis vs Growiec (2009) and OCED STAN
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

18. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Results
Labour share: mean vs aggregate
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

19. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Conclusions
Conclusions
New facts about labour share in Poland
Recovery since late 2010s (not seen in Growiec, 2009)
↑ among SMEs, though lower than among 49+
Consistently small contribution of SMEs to the aggregate
⇒ The aggregate understates labor share in most firms (for both L and VA)
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

20. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Conclusions
Conclusions
New facts about labour share in Poland
Recovery since late 2010s (not seen in Growiec, 2009)
↑ among SMEs, though lower than among 49+
Consistently small contribution of SMEs to the aggregate
⇒ The aggregate understates labor share in most firms (for both L and VA)
Time patterns in Orbis similar to other data sources
For levels: Growiec (2009) ̸= OCED STAN
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

21. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Conclusions
Conclusions
New facts about labour share in Poland
Recovery since late 2010s (not seen in Growiec, 2009)
↑ among SMEs, though lower than among 49+
Consistently small contribution of SMEs to the aggregate
⇒ The aggregate understates labor share in most firms (for both L and VA)
Time patterns in Orbis similar to other data sources
For levels: Growiec (2009) ̸= OCED STAN ̸= Orbis
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

22. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Conclusions
Conclusions
New facts about labour share in Poland
Recovery since late 2010s (not seen in Growiec, 2009)
↑ among SMEs, though lower than among 49+
Consistently small contribution of SMEs to the aggregate
⇒ The aggregate understates labor share in most firms (for both L and VA)
Time patterns in Orbis similar to other data sources
For levels: Growiec (2009) ̸= OCED STAN ̸= Orbis
Conclusions similar with expanded sample
Possible gain from using imputation of VA
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

23. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Conclusions
Questions or suggestions?
Thank you!
w: grape.org.pl
t: grape org
f: grape.org
e: s.zalas@grape.org.pl
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis

24. Labour share in Poland from Orbis
Conclusions
References I
Autor, D., Dorn, D., Katz, L. F., Patterson, C. and Van Reenen, J.: 2020, The fall of the labor share and the rise of superstar
firms, Quarterly Journal of Economics 135(2), 645–709.
Growiec, J.: 2009, Relacja plac do wydajności pracy w polsce: ujecie sektorowe, Bank i Kredyt 40(5), 61–88.
Karabarbounis, L. and Neiman, B.: 2014, The global decline of the labor share, Quarterly Journal of Economics 129(1), 61–103.
Kehrig, M. and Vincent, N.: 2021, The Micro-Level Anatomy of the Labor Share Decline*, The Quarterly Journal of Economics
136(2), 1031–1087.
Kónya, I., Krekó, J. and Oblath, G.: 2020, Labor shares in the old and new eu member states-sectoral effects and the role of
relative prices, Economic Modelling 90, 254–272.
Mertens, M.: 2022, Micro-mechanisms behind declining labor shares: Rising market power and changing modes of production,
International Journal of Industrial Organization 81, 102808.
Oberfield, E. and Raval, D.: 2021, Micro data and macro technology, Econometrica 89(2), 703–732.
Drażkowski - Zalas Labour share in Poland from Orbis