Manufacturing Jobs and Inequality: Why is the U.S. Experience Different?

Natalija Novta, E. Pugacheva
{"title":"Manufacturing Jobs and Inequality: Why is the U.S. Experience Different?","authors":"Natalija Novta, E. Pugacheva","doi":"10.5089/9781498320450.001","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"We examine the extent to which declining manufacturing employment may have\ncontributed to increasing inequality in advanced economies. This contribution is typically\nsmall, except in the United States. We explore two possible explanations: the high initial\nmanufacturing wage premium and the high level of income inequality. The manufacturing\nwage premium declined between the 1980s and the 2000s in the United States, but it does\nnot explain the contemporaneous rise in inequality. Instead, high income inequality played\na large role. This is because manufacturing job loss typically implies a move to the service\nsector, for which the worker is not skilled at first and accepts a low-skill wage. On\naverage, the associated wage cut increases with the overall level of income inequality in\nthe country, conditional on moving down in the wage distribution. Based on a stylized\nscenario, we calculate that the movement of workers to low-skill service sector jobs can\naccount for about a quarter of the increase in inequality between the 1980s and the 2000s\nin the United States. Had the U.S. income distribution been more equal, only about one\ntenth of the actual increase in inequality could have been attributed to the loss of\nmanufacturing jobs, according to our simulations.","PeriodicalId":196465,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution (Topic)","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"3","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"ERN: Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution (Topic)","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.5089/9781498320450.001","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 3

Abstract

We examine the extent to which declining manufacturing employment may have contributed to increasing inequality in advanced economies. This contribution is typically small, except in the United States. We explore two possible explanations: the high initial manufacturing wage premium and the high level of income inequality. The manufacturing wage premium declined between the 1980s and the 2000s in the United States, but it does not explain the contemporaneous rise in inequality. Instead, high income inequality played a large role. This is because manufacturing job loss typically implies a move to the service sector, for which the worker is not skilled at first and accepts a low-skill wage. On average, the associated wage cut increases with the overall level of income inequality in the country, conditional on moving down in the wage distribution. Based on a stylized scenario, we calculate that the movement of workers to low-skill service sector jobs can account for about a quarter of the increase in inequality between the 1980s and the 2000s in the United States. Had the U.S. income distribution been more equal, only about one tenth of the actual increase in inequality could have been attributed to the loss of manufacturing jobs, according to our simulations.
制造业就业与不平等:为什么美国的经验不同?
我们研究了发达经济体中制造业就业下降可能导致不平等加剧的程度。这种贡献通常很小,除了美国。我们探讨了两种可能的解释:高初始制造业工资溢价和高水平的收入不平等。20世纪80年代至21世纪初,美国制造业的工资溢价有所下降,但这并不能解释同期不平等的加剧。相反,高收入不平等发挥了很大作用。这是因为制造业的失业通常意味着向服务业的转移,而服务业的工人一开始并不熟练,而且接受的是低技能工资。平均而言,相关的工资削减随着国家整体收入不平等水平的增加而增加,条件是工资分配向下移动。基于一个程式化的情景,我们计算出工人向低技能服务部门工作的转移可以解释20世纪80年代到21世纪初美国不平等增加的大约四分之一。根据我们的模拟,如果美国的收入分配更加平等,那么只有大约十分之一的不平等实际增长可以归因于制造业工作岗位的流失。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
自引率
0.00%
发文量
0
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信