Increased Earning Dispersions and Labor Market Productivity

这项研究将通过调查过去几十年劳动力市场生产率和收入差距的模式，为了解美国劳动力不平等加剧的本质提供洞察力。利用制造业就业、收入和生产率的官方数据，这项调查将研究收入不平等加剧在多大程度上与生产率的提高有关，或者相反，可能只是夸大已经享有特权的员工的更高工资，拥有更大的讨价还价能力，从而耗尽收入来提高处于不利地位的工人的工资。因此，这些发现将揭示这样一个关键问题：为了避免经济停滞，是否有必要扩大不平等，或者中产阶级的衰落是否仅仅是加剧工资差距的结果，而工资差距并不相应地促进经济增长。了解劳动力市场工资过低和过高的程度和来源，将为公共政策辩论提供信息，并推动关于当前与劳动力监管有关的计划和法律的有效性的辩论。通过确定哪些特定的工人群体的生产率没有得到充分的补偿(以及哪些群体的工资可能严重偏高)，结果将对最低工资、劳动所得税抵免、联邦所得税税率、工业和贸易政策、家庭假法规、福利改革、平权行动、民权法律和移民立法等问题产生重要影响。

SES-0961565Arthur SakamotoUniversity of Texas, AustinChangHwan KimUniversity of KansasThis research will provide insight into the nature of rising inequality in the American labor force by investigating patterns of labor market productivity and earnings differentials during the past several decades. Using official data on employment, earnings, and productivity in manufacturing industries, this investigation will study the extent to which increased earnings inequalities are associated with improved productivity or, conversely, may be simply aggrandizing the higher salaries of already privileged employees with greater bargaining power which thereby depletes revenues for pay raises among less advantaged workers. The findings will thus shed light on the critical issue of whether rising inequality is necessary to avoid economic stagnation or whether the decline of the middle-class is simply the result of exacerbating salary differentials that do not commensurately promote economic growth.Understanding the extent and sources of underpayment and overpayment in the labor market will inform and advance public policy debates about the efficacies of current programs and laws relating to the regulation of the labor force. By identifying which specific groups of workers are not fully compensated for their productivity (and which groups may be significantly overpaid), the results will have important implications for such issues as the minimum wage, the Earned Income Tax Credit, federal income tax rates, industrial and trade policies, family-leave regulations, welfare reform, affirmative action, civil rights law, and immigration legislation.