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Gender Wage Gap, Wage-Productivity Decoupling, and the Rate of Profit

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  • Daniel Ossa

Abstract

The declining gender wage gap (GWG) and the wage-productivity decoupling (WPD) are two emerging phenomena for the United States since the 1980s. This article proposes an extension to the usual decomposition method of the profit rate to account for both the GWG and the WPD on aggregate income distribution. It then uses this framework to study the US manufacturing sector from 1960 to 2017. It suggests that gender wage inequality was a source of profitability, especially before 1986, but which was slowly petered out. Since 2001, increases in the profit share have mostly been due to the WPD. These results highlight the relevance of gender-based inequality in the more traditional analysis of the profit rate dynamics. JEL Classification: B51, E11, E25, J16

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Ossa, 2024. "Gender Wage Gap, Wage-Productivity Decoupling, and the Rate of Profit," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 56(1), pages 51-69, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:56:y:2024:i:1:p:51-69
    DOI: 10.1177/04866134231175177
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • B51 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Socialist; Marxian; Sraffian
    • E11 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Marxian; Sraffian; Kaleckian
    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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