Wage Outcomes Research Articles

Public Healthcare Spending, Business Dynamism, and Wage Inequality: Evidence from Developed and Developing Economies

AbstractThis paper examines the effects of public healthcare spending on wage inequality and social welfare in an economy with rural and urban regions. The objectives are twofold. First, we introduce a simple theoretical framework that captures the link between public healthcare spending and firms' output choice and subsequent wage provisions. We demonstrate that in the short run, a rise in public healthcare services can increase urban output and lower urban unemployment and raise both skilled and unskilled wage rates. In the long run, firm entry produces a business‐dynamism effect that enhances the rate of return on capital, reduces the unskilled wage rate and intensifies wage inequality. Second, we empirically test our theoretical predictions using data from 112 economies in the period 2006–2018. We find evidence supporting our theoretical findings concerning the effects of public healthcare on wage outcomes, especially in the long run. Results are highly consistent across the two groups: advanced economies (mainly OECD/European economies), and emerging and developing economies based on alternative measures for wage inequality, including the GINI coefficient and top income share. The paper provides useful information for the public healthcare policy.

US neonatal intensive care unit registered dietitian nutritionists salary description and correlates: results of a survey.

This survey described the compensation of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) in the United States and examined correlates of higher salaries within this group. A cross-sectional online survey was completed in 2021 by 143 NICU RDNs from 127 US hospitals who reported hourly wage in US dollars (USD). We used initial bivariate analyses to assess the relationship of selected institution-level and individual-level variables to hourly wage; the rank-sum test for binary variables; bivariate regression and Pearson correlation coefficients for continuous variables; the Kruskal-Wallis test for categorical variables. Variables with a compelling relationship to the hourly wage outcome were considered in model creation. Final model selection was based on comparisons of model fit. Median hourly compensation was USD 33.24 (interquartile range [IQR] 29.81, 38.49). Seven variables had a compelling bivariate relationship with hourly wage: cost of living, employer facility with a paediatric residency, employer facility with a neonatal fellowship, NICU bed: full-time equivalents (FTE) RDN ratio, years in neonatal nutrition, having a certification and order writing privileges. In the final adjusted model (R2 = 0.42), three variables remained associated with increased hourly wage: higher cost of living, longer length of career in neonatal nutrition and fewer NICU beds per NICU RDN FTE. US NICU RDNs earn similar or slightly higher wages than other US paediatric RDNs; they earn substantially less than other NICU healthcare team members. Employers need to improve compensation for NICU RDNs to incentivise their retention and recognise their additional non-clinical responsibilities.

Understanding Unemployment Dynamics and Labor Market Behavior in South Korea: Employing Mccall Dynamic Programming Approach

This paper investigates labor market dynamics from 1990 to 2023 using the McCall dynamic programming search model, offering insights into individual decision-making, economic conditions, and policy implications. Convergence trends in wage predictions underscore the model's reliability, highlighting its utility for predicting wage outcomes over time. The policy implications emphasize the importance of balancing the duration of unemployment and the considerations of the wage level in policy design. In light of the analysis, policymakers and employers should consider the trade-offs between unemployment duration and wage level when designing policies and compensation practices. The insights provide guidance for policymakers, employers, and job seekers in navigating the complexities of the job market.

Wage outcomes after temporary employment in Germany and the UK: Taking within- and between-employer transitions into account

This study investigates wage outcomes of former temporary workers by distinguishing workers obtaining permanent jobs with the same employer from those who find permanent work with a new employer. With this distinction, we build on studies investigating the wage consequences of temporary jobs, which have thus far mainly focused on cross-sectional wage gaps and longer-term wage consequences without considering employer changes. We compare Germany and the UK as two prime examples of different labour market settings and look at labour market subgroups relevant for social stratification. We estimate fixed effects individual slopes regression with data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (1995–2021), the British Household Panel Study (1992–2008), and the UK Household Longitudinal Study (2010–2021). Results show that in the rigid German and in the more flexible UK labour market, wage increase of former temporary workers is larger if the permanent job is obtained with the same employer, but only if it coincides with a job change within the firm. For transitions occurring on the same job, only workers in Germany experience wage increase. This wage increase is not higher compared to the wage increase of workers who switch employers. These patterns are similar across subgroups, with the largest deviances found for older workers in Germany.

Research Note: New Evidence on the Motherhood Wage Penalty

U.S. women's age at first birth has increased substantially. Yet, little research has considered how this changing behavior may have affected the motherhood pay penalty, or the wage decrease with a child's arrival, experienced by the current generation. Using Rounds 1–19 of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97), in this research note we examine shifts in hourly pay with childbirth for a cohort of women who became mothers mostly in the 2000s and 2010s. Results from fixed-effects models indicate that the motherhood pay penalty for NLSY97 women who had their first child before their late 20s is generally similar to that of previous cohorts. Those who became mothers near or after age 30, however, encounter a parenthood premium, as men do. The growing proportion of women delaying motherhood, coupled with the rising heterogeneity in motherhood wage outcomes by childbearing timing, contributes to a comparatively small motherhood penalty for this recent cohort. The pay advantage of “late mothers” cannot be explained by factors such as their labor market locations, number of children, stage of childrearing, marital status, or ethnoracial composition. Instead, the hourly gain stems from such mothers’ tendency to reduce working hours more than other mothers without experiencing a commensurate decrease in total pay. Unlike the fatherhood premium, the premium for late mothers does not lead to a real boost in income.

Left Partisanship, Corporatism, and the Reorientation of the Knowledge Economy in Advanced Capitalist Societies

Abstract While the progress of the knowledge economy is inexorable, this paper argues that partisan politics and labor market institutions can affect the direction in which the knowledge economy progresses. In particular, a combination of corporatist industrial relations systems and left partisanship tends to foster greater wage restraint, and such a wage outcome tends to encourage the greater adoption of communications technology than information-processing technology in the economy. This reorientation of the knowledge economy toward communications technology, in turn, has egalitarian distributive implications. In particular, the greater adoption of communications technology reduces wage inequality across the board in lower 90–10, 50–10, as well as 90–50 wage ratios. These arguments are tested using data across 15–21 OECD countries (1970–2015).

Parents' hourly wages in female same-sex and different-sex couples: The role of partner's gender and employers

Objective: This research article investigates the relationship between parenthood and wages, considering the partner's gender and the influence of employers on wage trajectories for birth and non-birth mothers and fathers. Background: It offers a novel examination whether the gender of the partner affects the wage outcomes for birth mothers and explores the differential impact of employers on wages for birth and non-birth mothers, using Dutch register data. Method: Utilizing OLS regression, Heckman selection, and fixed-effects models, this study focuses on all Dutch couples who had their first child between 2008 and 2014 in the Netherlands, from two years prior to the birth until two years after birth. Results: Consistent with human capital theory, the findings reveal a consistent and unfavourable wage development for birth mothers, regardless of whether they are in same-sex couples or different-sex couples. The wage development for non-birth mothers in female same-sex couples resembles that of fathers, showing a more positive trajectory compared to birth mothers. Furthermore, the analysis indicates that employers do not differentiate in their treatment of birth and non-birth mothers, suggesting that biological constraints associated with motherhood impact wages of birth mothers, while both their male and female partners’ wages do not decline. Conclusion: The study contributes to the existing literature in family sociology, highlighting the need for policies and interventions that address the specific challenges faced by birth mothers in the labor market.

Fraudulent financial reporting and the consequences for employees

We combine U.S. Census data with SEC enforcement actions to examine employees' outcomes, such as wages and turnover, before, during, and after periods of fraudulent financial reporting. We find that fraud firms’ employees lose about 50% of cumulative annual wages, compared to a matched sample, and the separation rate is much higher after fraud periods. Yet, employment growth at fraud firms is positive during fraud periods; these firms overbuild and hire new, lower-paid employees concurrent with the fraud, unlike firms in distress which tend to contract. When the fraud is revealed, firms shed workers, unwinding this abnormal growth and resulting in most of the negative wage consequences. Wage outcomes are particularly unfavorable in thin labor markets, and lower-wage employees, though unlikely to have perpetrated the fraud, experience more severe wage losses compared to higher-wage employees.

Occupational origin effects on wage and market income (inequality): The cases of Spain and Germany

Most of the economic and sociological literature focuses on the role of social origin background on class, or wage outcomes. Yet, two individuals may have similar wages, but very different market incomes, so that the role of social origin may differ between these two individuals. This paper aims to explore the social origin associations – net of individual occupation – on two types of monetary outcomes: standard annual salaries and market income. The study compares Spain and Germany to analyse variations in social origin associations within their distinct labour market structures and institutional frameworks. Using unconditional quantile regressions, the findings reveal that Spain exhibits a significant “residual effect of social origins” on both wage and market income. Spain also demonstrates significant class-ceiling effects, signalling barriers to upward mobility. Conversely, Germany shows a limited residual origin correlation and no significant class barriers, aligning well with the human capital theory. Additionally, Spain experiences a significant increase in inequality between 2002 and 2017, primarily attributed to changes in the characteristics of the labour market structure. On the other hand, Germany is again found to be a more mobile country with no significant dynamic changes in inequalities.

Food system labor and bargaining power

Historically, pandemics lead to labor shortages, and the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-21 proved to be no different. While there are many explanations for supply-chain issues reported in a number of industries, the proximate cause for ongoing problems in producing, processing, and delivering food to consumers has been attributed to a lack of labor. If this is the case, then the apparent shortage is likely to manifest in greater bargaining power by workers in the food and agriculture industry, defined generally, during the COVID pandemic. In this paper, we test whether the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with greater bargaining power among food and agriculture workers using a structural model of labor search-and-bargaining, and examine the effect of policy responses to COVID-19 on labor-market outcomes. Using data from the American Community Survey (ACS, Bureau of Census) for wage outcomes in 2019 and 2020, we find that the COVID pandemic was responsible for a 5.7% increase in bargaining power for employed workers. Our counterfactual simulations examine the impact of two labor-market interventions – minimum-wages and unemployment insurance – on equilibrium wages. We find that lower minimum wages leave more employment surplus to employers, allowing them to bid up equilibrium wages, while more generous unemployment insurance reduces the supply of labor, and increases equilibrium wages.

Gender effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Swiss labor market.

We study the impact of the pandemic on gender gaps in labor market outcomes in Switzerland. Using the Swiss Labor Force Survey data, we document a significant increase in the gender gap in labor market participation. We find no evidence of a worsening of the unemployment gender gap during the pandemic, but we find that women were more likely to uptake short-time work (STW). Unlike the USA, the presence of children in the household did not worsen labor gender gaps. Sector and occupation, however, play an important role in explaining gender gaps. In particular, we document substantial heterogeneity in the effect of the pandemic on participation, STW, hours worked, and wage outcomes depending on the availability of telework in the respondent's occupation.

The Long-Term Impacts of Corequisite Mathematics Remediation with Statistics: Degree Completion and Wage Outcomes

Community colleges are essential for United States higher education, but their students have low retention and graduation rates. Community college students assigned to mathematics remediation are particularly unlikely to graduate. Corequisite remediation (college-level coursework with additional support) has shown short-term increased student success. The current study examined the 7-year results of a randomized controlled trial of corequisite remediation with college-level statistics. Students assigned to the corequisite group were 50 percent more likely to complete associate’s degrees within 3 years, and 100 percent more likely to complete bachelor’s degrees within 5 years. Corequisite students also earned, on average, $3,000–$4,500 more in years 5 to 7. Mediation analysis further suggests that the wage treatment effect was due to shortened time to degree.

Habit formation and trade unions

Abstract We analyse how habit formation affects collective bargaining outcomes if a firm-specific trade union determines wages. For a wide variety of alternative analytical settings, such internal reference points induce the union to increase wages over time. A numerical example suggests that the resulting decline in employment can be substantial. Furthermore, policy changes in one period, which are either reversed in the next or anticipated in previous periods, have effects on wage outcomes for multiple periods because they affect the habit stock at times at which they are not yet or no longer in operation.

Noncompete agreements, bargaining, and wages: evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997

We examine the use of noncompete agreements (NCAs) and their relationship with wage bargaining and wage outcomes using new data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. NCAs cover 18 percent of the workers in our sample, and adoption patterns are broadly consistent with prior research. The NCA–wage correlation is positive and highly sensitive to controls for demographics and job characteristics, suggesting selection into NCAs causes positive bias in the estimates. While it is not obvious what the baseline level of the NCA–wage differential is, some heterogeneous effects are more stable: the NCA–wage differential is lower for workers who do not bargain over wages, have less education, have lower ability, or live in a state that enforces NCAs. Notably, wage bargaining—which is only marginally more likely with NCAs in our most saturated model—does not explain the heterogeneous effects across subgroups. We discuss these findings in light of competing theories of the social value of NCAs.

Occupational Attainment and Criminal Justice Contact: Does Type of Contact Matter?

Contact with the justice system is associated with negative overall employment and wage outcomes. An understudied employment-based outcome of interest for justice-involved populations is occupational prestige attainment, or relative social status position based on occupation. This outcome is salient to justice-involved populations as embedment in low-quality, low-prestige work may have substantial impacts on later upward mobility. Using longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics ( n = 1,382), we assess whether arrest, probation, and jail are differentially related to occupational prestige attainment for young adults. Results indicate that justice involvement inhibits occupational prestige attainment, and that removal from the community in the form of jail may pose particular detriments to overall occupational prestige attainment compared to arrest or probation.

Intergenerationally penalized? The long-term wage consequences of parental joblessness

Studies of intergenerational stratification and mobility have long called for investigation of the joint role of mothers and fathers in affecting labor market outcomes of children. However, long-term effects of parental joblessness—where no co-residing parent is employed at a given time—are not well understood. Using longitudinal data (covering 9942 person-year observations from 2281 children) from the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, this study investigates the long-term association between parental joblessness and children's wages during early adulthood. It examines whether these associations are mediated by family income during childhood and adolescence, educational attainment, and subsequent employment inactivity of the child, and whether exposure at earlier ages is associated with more detrimental effects. Multilevel mixed-effects models regressing hourly wages in early adulthood (observed over 2008–2018) on the proportion of time spent living in a household where no parent is employed (observed over 2001–2007) reveal two major findings. First, exposure to parental joblessness during childhood and adolescence is correlated with adverse wage outcomes during early adulthood in addition to previously documented employment penalties, with similar estimates across age groups. Second, mediation analyses indicate that household income, children's educational attainment, and children's own inactivity reduce the magnitude of this wage penalty, but do not completely offset it.

Social Class, Union Strategies, and Preference in Wage Outcomes in Norway

This article explores a potential socialization effect of unions on member preferences in wage outcomes and bargaining structures. This challenges notions of union wage policies simply reflecting the material self-interest of their constituency. In their formative role, unions can either propagate more redistribution in society, that is, increasing equality, or increasing societal inequalities, arguing instead for equity. However, equity could be measured either individually or collectively, where the latter would mean increasing societal wage inequalities while favouring intra-union equality. By putting perspectives on worker preferences and political economic theories in dialogue with the literature on the role of unions in constructing notions of equality/equity, we discuss on union strategy as it relates to their socialization effects and members’ attitudes towards income inequality and bargaining structures. Analysing survey data, we find that socioeconomic status has greater influence on preferred wage outcomes, while union membership has more influence over bargaining structure.

Just above the exam cutoff score: Elite college admission and wages in China

A burgeoning literature has documented the importance of elite colleges. Yet, little is known about access to elite education and its labor market implications in China, a country that produces one in every five college graduates in the world. College admission in China is governed by a single exam – the national college entrance exam, and the government sets admission cutoff scores for elite colleges. We examine the impacts of scoring above the elite-tier cutoff on a student’s access to elite colleges and wage outcomes after graduation, using the discontinuity around the cutoff score. By employing hand-collected survey data, we find that scoring above the cutoff not only increases the chance of entering an elite college but also raises a young person’s first-job wages after graduation. We also find that those just above the cutoff have peers with higher scores and better social networks than those below the cutoff, but it is less clear whether the two groups use their time differently in college.

Can training close the gender wage gap? Evidence from Vietnamese SMEs

ABSTRACT Firm-provided training is generally seen as an important tool for bridging the skills gap between the labour force and what the private sector demands. Little is known about how successful such training can be in closing the gender wage gap. We use a matched employer-employee panel dataset to assess why firms train and whether formal training affects wage outcomes in Vietnamese SMEs. Training is generally found to be firm-sponsored and specific in nature. We find that training is associated with higher wages for trained women as compared to both untrained women and men. However, we do not find a statistically significant wage difference between trained women and men. Furthermore, the wage increase is only associated with on-the-job training. Our findings indicate that, at least in Vietnam, firm-sponsored on-the-job training could help increase women’s labour productivity and thus contribute to closing the gender wage gap.

Internal devaluation and economic inequality in Portugal: challenges to industrial relations in times of crisis and recovery

Internal devaluation policies imposed in southern European countries since 2010 have weakened labour market institutions and intensified wage inequality and the falling wage share. The debate in the wake of the financial and economic crisis raised concerns about slow wage growth and persistent economic inequality. This article attempts to shed light on this debate, scrutinising the case of Portugal in the period 2010–2017. Mapping the broad developments at the national level, the article examines four sectors, looking in particular at the impact of minimum wages and collective bargaining on wage trends vis-à-vis wage inequality and wage share trajectories. We conclude that both minimum wage increases and the slight recovery of collective bargaining had a positive effect on wage outcomes and were important in reducing wage inequality. The extent of this reduction was limited, however, by uneven sectoral recovery dynamics and the persistent effects of precarious work, combined with critical liberalisation reforms.