Increased Earning Dispersions and Labor Market Productivity

本研究将通过调查过去几十年劳动力市场生产率和收入差异的模式，深入了解美国劳动力日益加剧的不平等的本质。利用制造业就业、收入和生产率的官方数据，本调查将研究收入不平等的加剧在多大程度上与生产率的提高有关，或者相反，可能只是扩大了已经享有更大议价能力的特权员工的更高工资，从而耗尽了弱势工人加薪的收入。因此，研究结果将揭示一个关键问题：贫富差距的扩大是否对避免经济停滞是必要的，还是中产阶级的衰落仅仅是工资差距加剧的结果，而工资差距并没有相应地促进经济增长。了解劳动力市场中工资过低和过高的程度和来源，将为当前有关劳动力监管的计划和法律的有效性的公共政策辩论提供信息和推进。通过确定哪些特定的工人群体的生产力没有得到充分的补偿（哪些群体的工资可能明显过高），研究结果将对最低工资、劳动所得税抵免、联邦所得税率、工业和贸易政策、家庭休假法规、福利改革、平权行动、民权法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.