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Unbundling Labor

Author

Listed:
  • Chris Edmond
  • Simon Mongey

Abstract

Why is there so much wage inequality within occupations? Why has the overall level of within-occupation wage inequality risen? Why is the rise concentrated in cognitive-intensive occupations, while inequality has fallen in manual-intensive ones? To answer these questions we develop a general equilibrium model with heterogeneous workers who supply multiple skills jointly, as an indivisible bundle. This bundling friction allows a given skill to be priced differently in different occupations. We find in US data that differences in skill prices, not worker composition, explain why within-occupation inequality is higher in more cognitively intensive occupations and account for about a third of the rise in within-occupation inequality from 1980 to 2010. We show that a uniform increase in the productivity of cognitive skill can drive inequality up in cognitive-intensive occupations and down in manual ones, just as in the data.

Suggested Citation

  • Chris Edmond & Simon Mongey, 2026. "Unbundling Labor," Staff Report 691, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedmsr:103984
    DOI: 10.21034/sr.691
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

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