Changes in the Structure of Wages in the Public and Private Sectors
The wage structure in the U.S. public sector responded sluggishly to substantial changes in private sector wages during the 1970s and 1980s. Despite a large expansion in the college/high school wage differential during the 1980s in the private sector, the public sector college wage premium remained fairly stable. Although wage differentials by skill, in the public sector were fairly unresponsive to changes in the private sector, overall pay levels for state and local government workers were quite sensitive to local labor market conditions. But federal government regional pay levels appear unaffected by local economic conditions. Several possible explanations are considered to account for the rigidity of the government internal wage structure, including employer size, unionization, and nonprofit status. None of these factors adequately explains the pay rigidity we observe in the government.
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| Length: | |
| Date of creation: | Mar 1991 |
| Date of revision: | |
| Publication status: | published as Ronald Ehrenberg, editor. Research in Labor Economics 12. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1991, pp. 131-172 |
| Handle: | RePEc:nbr:nberwo:3667 |
| Note: | LS |
| Contact details of provider: | Postal: Phone: 617-868-3900 Web page: http://www.nber.orgEmail: More information through EDIRC
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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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