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Rising between-workplace inequalities in high-income countries

Author

Listed:
  • Donald Tomaskovic-Devey

    (Department of Sociology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, 01003)

  • Anthony Rainey

    (Department of Sociology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, 01003)

  • Dustin Avent-Holt

    (Department of Social Sciences, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912)

  • Nina Bandelj

    (Department of Sociology, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92617)

  • István Boza

    (Department of Economics and Business, Central European University, Budapest 1051, Hungary)

  • David Cort

    (Department of Sociology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, 01003)

  • Olivier Godechot

    (Observatoire sociologique du changement , MaxPo, Sciences Po, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris 75007, France)

  • Gergely Hajdu

    (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna AU-1020, Austria)

  • Martin Hällsten

    (Department of Sociology, Stockholm University, Stockholm 114 18, Sweden)

  • Lasse Folke Henriksen

    (Department of Organization, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen DK-2000, Denmark)

  • Are Skeie Hermansen

    (Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, Oslo N-0851, Norway)

  • Feng Hou

    (Social Analysis and Modelling Division, Statistics Canada, Ottawa, Canada K1A 0T6)

  • Jiwook Jung

    (School of Labor and Employment Relations, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801)

  • Aleksandra Kanjuo-Mrčela

    (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia)

  • Joe King

    (Institute for Defense Analyses, Alexandria, VA, 22311-1882)

  • Naomi Kodama

    (College of Economics, Nihon University, Tokyo 101-8360, Japan)

  • Tali Kristal

    (Department of Sociology, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel)

  • Alena Křížková

    (Institute of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague 11000, Czech Republic)

  • Zoltán Lippényi

    (Department of Sociology, University of Groningen, Groningen 9712 TG, The Netherlands)

  • Silvia Maja Melzer

    (Department of Sociology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona 08007, Spain)

  • Eunmi Mun

    (School of Labor and Employment Relations, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801)

  • Andrew Penner

    (Department of Sociology, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92617)

  • Trond Petersen

    (Department of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720-1980)

  • Andreja Poje

    (Association of Free Trade Unions of Slovenia, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia)

  • Mirna Safi
  • Max Thaning

    (Department of Sociology, Stockholm University, Stockholm 114 18, Sweden)

  • Zaibu Tufail

    (Department of Sociology, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92617)

Abstract

It is well documented that earnings inequalities have risen in many high-income countries. Less clear are the linkages between rising income inequality and workplace dynamics, how within- and between-workplace inequality varies across countries, and to what extent these inequalities are moderated by national labor market institutions. In order to describe changes in the initial between- and within-firm market income distribution we analyze administrative records for 2,000,000,000+ job years nested within 50,000,000+ workplace years for 14 high-income countries in North America, Scandinavia, Continental and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia. We find that countries vary a great deal in their levels and trends in earnings inequality but that the between-workplace share of wage inequality is growing in almost all countries examined and is in no country declining. We also find that earnings inequalities and the share of between-workplace inequalities are lower and grew less strongly in countries with stronger institutional employment protections and rose faster when these labor market protections weakened. Our findings suggest that firm-level restructuring and increasing wage inequalities between workplaces are more central contributors to rising income inequality than previously recognized.

Suggested Citation

  • Donald Tomaskovic-Devey & Anthony Rainey & Dustin Avent-Holt & Nina Bandelj & István Boza & David Cort & Olivier Godechot & Gergely Hajdu & Martin Hällsten & Lasse Folke Henriksen & Are Skeie Hermanse, 2020. "Rising between-workplace inequalities in high-income countries," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(17), pages 9277-9283, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nas:journl:v:117:y:2020:p:9277-9283
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    Cited by:

    1. A. Cetrulo & A. Sbardella & M. E. Virgillito, 2023. "Vanishing social classes? Facts and figures of the Italian labour market," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 97-148, January.
    2. Izumi, Atsuko & Kodama, Naomi & Kwon, Hyeog Ug, 2023. "Labor market concentration and heterogeneous effects on wages: Evidence from Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    3. Olivier Godechot & Marco G Palladino & Damien Babet, 2023. "In the Land of AKM: Explaining the Dynamics of Wage Inequality in France," Working Papers hal-04319406, HAL.

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