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Wage inequality and demand for skill: Evidence from five decades

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  • Chinhui Juhn
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    Abstract

    Using the 1940-90 Censuses, the author examines long-run changes in male wage inequality and skill premiums and investigates the extent to which shifts in observable measures of skill supply and demand can account for relative wage fluctuations across decades. A simple supply and demand framework is reasonably successful in accounting for movements in the education premium but is less successful in explaining changes in overall wage inequality. While the difference between the 90th and 10th percentiles of the log wage distribution fell sharply in the 1940s and grew at an accelerating rate in the 1980s, relative demand for the most versus the least skilled workers rose steadily throughout the period. The pace of industrial change and, in particular, the expansion of medium-skilled sectors such as blue-collar manufacturing appear to have been inversely related to overall wage inequality growth. (Abstract courtesy JSTOR.)

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    Bibliographic Info

    Article provided by ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School in its journal ILR Review.

    Volume (Year): 52 (1999)
    Issue (Month): 3 (April)
    Pages: 424-443

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    Handle: RePEc:ilr:articl:v:52:y:1999:i:3:p:424-443

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    Cited by:
    1. Goldin, Claudia & Katz, Lawrence, 2000. "Education and Income in the Early 20th Century: Evidence from the Prairies," Scholarly Articles 2624456, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    2. Budd, John W. & McCall, Brian P., 1999. "Decomposing Changes In Retail Food Wage Distributions, 1983-1998: A Semi-Parametric Analysis," Working Papers 14327, University of Minnesota, The Food Industry Center.
    3. David H. Autor & Frank Levy & Richard J. Murnane, 2001. "The Skill Content of Recent Technological Change: An Empirical Exploration," NBER Working Papers 8337, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Wojciech Kopczuk & Emmanuel Saez & Jae Song, 2007. "Uncovering the American Dream: Inequality and Mobility in Social Security Earnings Data since 1937," NBER Working Papers 13345, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Claudia Goldin & Lawrence F. Katz, 1999. "The Returns to Skill in the United States across the Twentieth Century," NBER Working Papers 7126, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Maarten Goos & Alan Manning, 2007. "Lousy and Lovely Jobs: The Rising Polarization of Work in Britain," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(1), pages 118-133, February.
    7. Jose Varejao & Anabela Carneiro, 2005. "Plant Turnover and the Evolution of Regional Inequalities," ERSA conference papers ersa05p709, European Regional Science Association.
    8. Wang, Ming-cheng & Fang, Chen-ray & Huang, Li-hsuan, 2009. "International knowledge spillovers and wage inequality in developing countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 1208-1214, November.
    9. Budd, John W. & McCall, Brian P., 1999. "The Grocery Stores' Wage Distribution: A Semi-Parametric Analysis Of The Role Of Retailing And Labor Market Institutions," Working Papers 14347, University of Minnesota, The Food Industry Center.
    10. Wolff, Edward N., 2001. "The Impact of IT Investment on Income and Wealth Inequality in the Postwar US Economy," Working Papers UNU-WIDER Research Paper , World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Anabela Carneiro & José Varejão, 2012. "Establishment Turnover and the Evolution of Wage Inequality," CEF.UP Working Papers 1202, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    12. Fang, Chen-ray & Huang, Li-hsuan & Wang, Ming-cheng, 2008. "Technology spillover and wage inequality," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 137-147, January.
    13. Boockmann, Bernhard & Steiner, Viktor, 2000. "Cohort effects and the returns to education in West Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 00-05, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research.
    14. Theresa M. Glomb & John D. Kammeyer-Mueller & Maria Rotundo, . "Emotional Labor Demands and Compensating Wage Differentials," Working Papers 0802, Human Resources and Labor Studies, University of Minnesota (Twin Cities Campus).

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