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The rise and decline(?) of U.S. internal labor markets

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Author Info
Erica Groshen
David Levine

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Abstract

Many employers adopt practices that insulate their workforces from the outside labor market. One defining characteristic of such an "internal labor market" is a company wage policy that diverges from that of the external market. These divergences may occur for an entire employer on average, or for a subset of occupations at an employer. This paper examines the changing magnitude and persistence of both types of divergence over the last 40 years. We analyze a unique salary survey with detailed microdata on the pay practices of 228 large Midwestern employers. This long time period (the longest extant on a large number of employers) permits an evaluation of the supposed "golden age" of internal labor markets, as well as any recent decline. The results also shed light on several theories that attempt to explain increased pay inequality. We find no evidence of a recent decline in the importance of internal labor markets in large firms, as measured by the magnitude or persistence of deviations in company wage policies from market averages. Moreover, employers in industries that underwent deregulation or that experienced rising imports did not systematically weaken their internal labor markets.

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Paper provided by Federal Reserve Bank of New York in its series Research Paper with number 9819.

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Date of creation: 1998
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Handle: RePEc:fip:fednrp:9819

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Keywords: Labor market Wages

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This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Lazear, Edward P, 1995. "A Jobs-Based Analysis of Labor Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 260-65, May.
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  3. Baker, George & Gibbs, Michael & Holmstrom, Bengt, 1994. "The Wage Policy of a Firm," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 109(4), pages 921-55, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Erica L. Groshen & Mark E. Schweitzer, 1996. "The effects of inflation on wage adjustments in firm-level data: grease or sand?," Staff Reports 9, Federal Reserve Bank of New York. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Edward P. Lazear & Sherwin Rosen, 1981. "Rank-Order Tournaments as Optimum Labor Contracts," NBER Working Papers 0401, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Erica L. Groshen, 1991. "Rising inequality in a salary survey: another piece of the puzzle," Working Paper 9121, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. [Downloadable!]
  7. Shapiro, Carl & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1984. "Equilibrium Unemployment as a Worker Discipline Device," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(3), pages 433-44, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Michael H. Belzer, 1995. "Collective bargaining after deregulation: Do the Teamsters still count?," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 48(4), pages 636-655, July.
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  10. Christopher L. Erickson, 1996. "A re-interpretation of pattern bargaining," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 49(4), pages 615-634, July.
  11. Levine, David I., 1991. "Cohesiveness, productivity, and wage dispersion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 237-255, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Lazear, Edward P, 1981. "Agency, Earnings Profiles, Productivity, and Hours Restrictions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(4), pages 606-20, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Paul Milgrom and John Roberts., 1987. "Bargaining and Influence Costs and the Organization of Economic Activity," Economics Working Papers 8731, University of California at Berkeley.
  14. Solon, Gary, 1992. "Intergenerational Income Mobility in the United States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(3), pages 393-408, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Groshen, Erica L, 1991. "Sources of Intra-industry Wage Dispersion: How Much Do Employers Matter?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 106(3), pages 869-84, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Salop, Joanne & Salop, Steven, 1976. "Self-Selection and Turnover in the Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 90(4), pages 619-27, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Michael Kremer & Eric Maskin, 1996. "Wage Inequality and Segregation by Skill," NBER Working Papers 5718, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Erica Groshen, 1996. "American employer salary surveys and labor economics research: issues and contributions," Research Paper 9604, Federal Reserve Bank of New York. [Downloadable!]
  19. Abowd, John M & Lemieux, Thomas, 1993. "The Effects of Product Market Competition on Collective Bargaining Agreements: The Case of Foreign Competition in Canada," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 108(4), pages 983-1014, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  20. Valletta, Robert G, 1999. "Declining Job Security," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(4), pages S170-97, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  21. Baily, Martin Neil, 1974. "Wages and Employment under Uncertain Demand," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(1), pages 37-50, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Levine, David I, 1993. "Fairness, Markets, and Ability to Pay: Evidence from Compensation Executives," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1241-59, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Joanne Salop & Steve Salop, 1976. "Self-selection and turnover in the labor market," Special Studies Papers 80, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
  24. Juhn, Chinhui & Murphy, Kevin M & Pierce, Brooks, 1993. "Wage Inequality and the Rise in Returns to Skill," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(3), pages 410-42, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. David Card, 1996. "Deregulation and Labor Earnings in the Airline Industry," NBER Working Papers 5687, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  27. Blanchflower, David G & Oswald, Andrew J & Sanfey, Peter, 1996. "Wages, Profits, and Rent-Sharing," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 111(1), pages 227-51, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Marianne Bertrand, 1998. "From the Invisible Handshake to the Invisible Hand? How Import Competition Changes the Employment Relationship," Working Papers 789, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section.. [Downloadable!]
  2. Julie L. Hotchkiss & M. Melinda Pitts & John C. Robertson, 2004. "Wage gains among job changers across the business cycle:> insight from state administrative data," Working Paper 2004-19, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. [Downloadable!]
  3. Emmanuelle Auriol & Régis Renault, 2007. "Status and Incentives," THEMA Working Papers 2007-01, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Erica L. Groshen & Mark E. Schweitzer, 1997. "Identifying Inflation's Grease and Sand Effects in the Labor Market," NBER Working Papers 6061, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Elizabeth Davis & Matthew Freedman & Julia Lane & Brian McCall & Nicole Nestoriak & Timothy Park, . "Product Market Competition and Human Resource Practices: An Analysis of the Retail Food Sector," Working Papers 0905, Industrial Relations Center, University of Minnesota (Twin Cities Campus). [Downloadable!]
  6. Luc Behaghel & Eve Caroli & Emmanuelle Walkowiak, 2007. "Innovation and skill upgrading: The role of external vs internal labour markets," PSE Working Papers 2007-04, PSE (Ecole normale supérieure). [Downloadable!]
  7. Lane, Julia I. & Salmon, Laurie A. & Spletzer, James R., 2007. "Establishment Wage Differentials," Working Papers 403, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. [Downloadable!]
  8. Burt Malkiel & Judith Malkiel, 1972. "Male-Female Pay Differentials in Professional Employment," Working Papers 410, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section.. [Downloadable!]
  9. AURIOL, Emmanuelle & RENAULT, Régis, 2000. "The Costs and Benefits of Symbolic Differentiation in the Work Place," IDEI Working Papers 101, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse, revised 2002. [Downloadable!]
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