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Labor-Market Concentration and Labor Compensation

Author

Listed:
  • Qiu, Yue

    (Temple University)

  • Sojourner, Aaron

    (Upjohn Institute for Employment Research)

Abstract

This paper estimates the effect of labor-market concentration on labor compensation across the U.S. private sector since 2000. We distinguish between concentration in local labor markets versus local product markets, guarding against bias from confounded product-market concentration. Analysis extends beyond wages to rates of employment-based health insurance coverage. Estimates suggest negative effects of labor-market concentration on labor compensation. This comes through both reducing the human-capital level of those in the market and reducing pay conditional on human-capital level. Higher product-market concentration exacerbates and higher unionization rates mitigates these effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Qiu, Yue & Sojourner, Aaron, 2019. "Labor-Market Concentration and Labor Compensation," IZA Discussion Papers 12089, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12089
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    Cited by:

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    2. Marinescu, Ioana & Ouss, Ivan & Pape, Louis-Daniel, 2021. "Wages, hires, and labor market concentration," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 506-605.
    3. Gregor Jarosch & Isaac Sorkin & Jan Sebastian Nimczik, 2019. "Granular Search, Concentration and Wages," 2019 Meeting Papers 1018, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    4. Azar, José & Marinescu, Ioana & Steinbaum, Marshall & Taska, Bledi, 2020. "Concentration in US labor markets: Evidence from online vacancy data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    5. Fernández-Villaverde, Jesús & Mandelman, Federico & Yu, Yang & Zanetti, Francesco, 2021. "The “Matthew effect” and market concentration: Search complementarities and monopsony power," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 62-90.
    6. Esteban Rossi-Hansberg & Pierre-Daniel Sarte & Nicholas Trachter, 2021. "Diverging Trends in National and Local Concentration," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(1), pages 115-150.
    7. Michael A Clemens, 2022. "The economic and fiscal effects on the United States from reduced numbers of refugees and asylum seekers [Refugees without Assistance: English-language Attainment and Economic Outcomes in the Early," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 38(3), pages 449-486.
    8. Saxell, Tanja & Nurminen, Mikko, 2020. "Physician Prices and Competition: Evidence from Acquisitions in the Private Health Care Sector," Working Papers 130, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    9. Samuel Dodini & Kjell Salvanes & Alexander L.P. Willén & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2021. "The Dynamics of Power in Labor Markets: Monopolistic Unions versus Monopsonistic Employers," CESifo Working Paper Series 9495, CESifo.
    10. Marinescu, Ioana E. & Qiu, Yue & Sojourner, Aaron, 2021. "Wage Inequality and Labor Rights Violations," IZA Discussion Papers 14112, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Bassanini, Andrea & Batut, Cyprien & Caroli, Eve, 2021. "Labor Market Concentration and Stayers' Wages: Evidence from France," IZA Discussion Papers 14912, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Axelle Arquié & Julia Bertin, 2022. "The Heterogenous Effects of Employers’ Concentration on Wages: Better Sorting or Uneven Rent Extracting?," Working Papers 2022-09, CEPII research center.
    13. Albert Jan Hummel, 2021. "Monopsony Power, Income Taxation and Welfare," CESifo Working Paper Series 9128, CESifo.
    14. Michael Clemens, 2021. "The Fiscal Effect of Immigration: Reducing Bias in Influential Estimates," CESifo Working Paper Series 9464, CESifo.
    15. Kevin Rinz, 2019. "Did Timing Matter? Life Cycle Differences in Effects of Exposure to the Great Recession," Working Papers 19-25, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    16. Albert Jan Hummel, 2021. "Monopsony power, income taxation and welfare," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 21-051/VI, Tinbergen Institute.
    17. Taskin, Ahmet Ali & Yaman, Firat, 2023. "The effect of branching deregulation on finance wage premium," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 08/2023, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
    18. Emilio Colombo & Alberto Marcato, 2021. "Skill Demand and Labour Market Concentration: Theory and Evidence from Italian Vacancies," DISEIS - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia internazionale, delle istituzioni e dello sviluppo dis2104, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimento di Economia internazionale, delle istituzioni e dello sviluppo (DISEIS).
    19. Zhuravleva, Nadezhda, 2021. "How Bad Is Labor Market Concentration?: Evidence From Soviet (Urban) Satellites," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242405, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    labor-market concentration; monopsony; wages; health insurance; unions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions
    • J42 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Monopsony; Segmented Labor Markets
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects

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