The article looks at how public sector wages and the wage gap between public and private sector employees changed before the euro was introduced. They used a new method to analyze data and found that public sector wages grew more slowly in the 1990s in many European countries. However, the wage gap between public and private sector workers increased during this time, with public employees generally earning more than private sector workers with similar characteristics. This trend was most pronounced in Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain. The study suggests that efforts to meet euro adoption criteria did not reduce the wage premium associated with public sector jobs.