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Inter-Industry Wage Differentials Job Content and Unobserved Ability

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  • Maury Gittleman
  • Brooks Pierce

Abstract

The authors estimate inter-industry wage differentials using the Bureau of Labor Statistics's National Compensation Survey (NCS) dataset. The NCS dataset has a number of distinct advantages over household survey datasets typically used for this purpose, in part because its establishment data contain information on job content and more accurate measures of industry and occupation. The authors find that controlling for job functions substantially lowers inter-industry wage variation. To the extent that job function proxies for productivity, a substantial portion of inter-industry wage variation may be explained by worker sorting on (observed) ability.

Suggested Citation

  • Maury Gittleman & Brooks Pierce, 2011. "Inter-Industry Wage Differentials Job Content and Unobserved Ability," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 64(2), pages 356-374, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:64:y:2011:i:2:p:356-374
    DOI: 10.1177/001979391106400208
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Robert Gibbons & Lawrence Katz, 1992. "Does Unmeasured Ability Explain Inter-Industry Wage Differentials?," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 59(3), pages 515-535.
    4. McKinley Blackburn & David Neumark, 1992. "Unobserved Ability, Efficiency Wages, and Interindustry Wage Differentials," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(4), pages 1421-1436.
    5. David H. Autor & Frank Levy & Richard J. Murnane, 2003. "The skill content of recent technological change: an empirical exploration," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue nov.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Simon Eisele & Martin R. Schneider, 2020. "What Do Unions Do to Work Design? Computer Use, Union Presence, and Tayloristic Jobs in Britain," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(4), pages 604-626, October.
    2. Jan Kluge & Michael Weber, 2015. "Decomposing the German East-West wage gap," ifo Working Paper Series 205, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    3. Maury Gittleman & Brooks Pierce, 2012. "Compensation for State and Local Government Workers," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(1), pages 217-242, Winter.
    4. David H. Autor & David Dorn & Gordon H. Hanson & Jae Song, 2014. "Trade Adjustment: Worker-Level Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(4), pages 1799-1860.
    5. Morris M. Kleiner & Wenchen Wang, 2023. "The Labor Market Effects of Occupational Licensing in the Public Sector," Staff Report 645, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    6. Antje Schubert & Johannes Steinbrecher & Marcel Thum & Michael Weber, 2016. "The Impact of the Statutory Minimum Wage Act in Saxony," ifo Dresden Studien, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 77, February.
    7. Jones, Todd R. & Kofoed, Michael S., 2020. "Do peers influence occupational preferences? Evidence from randomly-assigned peer groups at West Point," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    8. Maury Gittleman & Brooks Pierce Pierce, 2013. "An improved measure of inter-industry pay differentials," Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, IOS Press, issue 3, pages 229-242.
    9. Alec Levenson & Cindy Zoghi, 2010. "Occupations, Human Capital and Skills," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 31(4), pages 365-386, December.
    10. Maury Gittleman & Kristen Monaco & Nicole Nestoriak, 2017. "The Requirements of Jobs: Evidence from a Nationally Representative Survey," NBER Chapters, in: Education, Skills, and Technical Change: Implications for Future US GDP Growth, pages 183-215, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Maury Gittleman & Brooks Pierce, 2015. "Pay for Performance and Compensation Inequality: Evidence from the ECEC," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 68(1), pages 28-52, January.
    12. Maury Gittleman & Brooks Pierce, 2012. "Inter-Industry Compensation Differentials," Working Papers 453, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    13. Jan Kluge & Michael Weber, 2018. "Decomposing the German East–West wage gap," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 26(1), pages 91-125, January.
    14. Scotton Carol R., 2013. "New risk rates, inter-industry differentials and the magnitude of VSL estimates," Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, De Gruyter, vol. 4(1), pages 39-80, March.

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