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What accounts for intra-industry wage differentials? Results from a survey of establishments

Fairris, David and Jonasson, Erik LU (2008) In Journal of Economic Issues 42(1). p.97-114
Abstract
This paper utilizes an original establishment survey in a select few low-wage industries in Los Angeles to draw conclusions about the existence of and explanations for intra,industry wage differentials. We explore differences in average establishment wages but also in the starting wage of the largest low-wage occupations in establishments. Well over 50 percent of the variation in average establishment wages occurs across establishments within industries and 60 percent or more of the starting occupational wages of establishments occurs both within industries and occupations. Differences in the skills of workers account for a portion of the variation in intra-industry average and intra, occupational starting wages, but so too do... (More)
This paper utilizes an original establishment survey in a select few low-wage industries in Los Angeles to draw conclusions about the existence of and explanations for intra,industry wage differentials. We explore differences in average establishment wages but also in the starting wage of the largest low-wage occupations in establishments. Well over 50 percent of the variation in average establishment wages occurs across establishments within industries and 60 percent or more of the starting occupational wages of establishments occurs both within industries and occupations. Differences in the skills of workers account for a portion of the variation in intra-industry average and intra, occupational starting wages, but so too do institutional factors such as unions, rent sharing, monitoring difficulty, and recruitment difficulty. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
rent sharing, intra-industry wage differentials, efficiency wages
in
Journal of Economic Issues
volume
42
issue
1
pages
97 - 114
publisher
Association for Evolutionary Economics
external identifiers
  • wos:000253997800009
  • scopus:41649104295
ISSN
0021-3624
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
150831e1-789e-435b-8871-e0b07939defc (old id 1185995)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:21:29
date last changed
2022-03-21 23:34:12
@article{150831e1-789e-435b-8871-e0b07939defc,
  abstract     = {{This paper utilizes an original establishment survey in a select few low-wage industries in Los Angeles to draw conclusions about the existence of and explanations for intra,industry wage differentials. We explore differences in average establishment wages but also in the starting wage of the largest low-wage occupations in establishments. Well over 50 percent of the variation in average establishment wages occurs across establishments within industries and 60 percent or more of the starting occupational wages of establishments occurs both within industries and occupations. Differences in the skills of workers account for a portion of the variation in intra-industry average and intra, occupational starting wages, but so too do institutional factors such as unions, rent sharing, monitoring difficulty, and recruitment difficulty.}},
  author       = {{Fairris, David and Jonasson, Erik}},
  issn         = {{0021-3624}},
  keywords     = {{rent sharing; intra-industry wage differentials; efficiency wages}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{97--114}},
  publisher    = {{Association for Evolutionary Economics}},
  series       = {{Journal of Economic Issues}},
  title        = {{What accounts for intra-industry wage differentials? Results from a survey of establishments}},
  volume       = {{42}},
  year         = {{2008}},
}