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Are Manufacturing Jobs Still Good Jobs? An Exploration of the Manufacturing Wage Premium

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Abstract

This paper explores the factors behind the disappearance of the manufacturing wage premium—the additional pay a manufacturing worker earns relative to a comparable nonmanufacturing worker. With substantially larger declines across union members, we quantify the role of unionization by exploiting the heterogeneity in membership status across manufacturing industries. We find that the decline in union membership explains more than 70 percent of the decline in the wage premium since the 1990s for union members but does not affect nonunion premia. Our findings suggest that the erosion of “good” manufacturing jobs has contributed to the increase in overall wage inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Kimberly Bayard & Tomaz Cajner & Vivi Gregorich & Maria D. Tito, 2022. "Are Manufacturing Jobs Still Good Jobs? An Exploration of the Manufacturing Wage Premium," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2022-011r1, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), revised 24 Sep 2024.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2022-11
    DOI: 10.17016/FEDS.2022.011r1
    Note: Revision
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects

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