Are ‘good’ firms, good for all employees?

This paper investigates whether employers share rents equally between white-collar and blue-collar workers. Using bias-corrected methods on administrative data from Italy’s Veneto region, I reject this null hypothesis. On average, white-collar workers receive premia that are 13%–15% higher than those of their blue-collar counterparts. This average disparity conceals substantial heterogeneity: half of the top 20% of firms for white-collar workers fall within the bottom 60% of the blue-collar distribution. High-type firms are, thus, not equally beneficial for all employees. Finally, the paper shows that firm premia differentiation has a long history: since the late 1980s, employers have steadily reduced the rents shared with blue-collar workers. • Firms pay unequal wage premia to white- and blue-collar workers. • High-paying firms for white-collar workers are often low-paying for blue-collar workers. • Accounting for occupation-specific premia strengthens worker–firm sorting measures. • Rent-sharing gaps are unrelated to collective bargaining agreements. • Blue-collar premia have steadily declined since the late 1980s.