The Roles of Job and Worker Restructuring in Aggregate Wage Growth Dynamics

Abstract

We propose an approach for measuring and analyzing the dynamics of the standard aggregate wage growth of macro statistics with micro data. Our method decomposes the aggregate wage growth into the wage growth of job stayers and into various terms related to job and worker restructuring. This method produces explicit expressions with clear interpretations for the various restructuring components. Using comprehensive longitudinal employer–employee data, we study how job and worker restructuring influence the aggregate wage growth and its cyclicality. The results highlight the importance of drawing a sharp distinction between job and worker restructuring in the analysis of aggregate wage growth dynamics.