Local Manufacturing Establishments and the Earnings of Manufacturing Workers: Insights from Matched Employer-Employee Data

We analyze the earnings determination process of more than 400,000 rural manufacturing workers in 12 selected U.S. states. Our theoretical motivation stems from an ongoing interest in the benefits of locally oriented business establishments. In this case, we distinguish manufacturing concerns that are single establishments in one rural place from branch plants that are part of larger multi-establishment enterprises. Our data permit us to introduce attributes of both workers and their employing firms into earnings determination models. For manufacturing workers in “micropolitan” rural counties, we find that working for a local (single) establishment has a positive impact on annual earnings. However, tenure with a firm returns more earnings for workers in non-local manufacturing facilities. Conversely, for manufacturing workers in “noncore” or rural areas without urban cores, we find that working for a local establishment has a negative effect on earnings. But, job tenure pays off more when working for a local establishment.