Wage Dynamics along the Life-Cycle of Manufacturing Plants

Emin Dinlersoz, Henry Hyatt and Sang Nguyen

Working Papers from U.S. Census Bureau, Center for Economic Studies

Abstract: This paper explores the evolution of average wage paid to employees along the life-cycle of a manufacturing plant in U.S. Average wage starts out low for a new plant and increases along with labor productivity, as the plant survives and ages. As a plant experiences productivity decline and approaches exit, average wage falls, but more slowly than it rises in the case of surviving new plants. Moreover, average wage declines slower than productivity does in failing plants, while it rises relatively faster as productivity increases in surviving new plants. These empirical regularities are studied in a dynamic model of labor quality and quantity choice by plants, where labor quality is reflected in wages. The model’s parameters are estimated to assess the costs a plant incurs as it alters its labor quality and quantity in response to changes in its productivity over its life-cycle.

Keywords: Wage dynamics; plant productivity; firm dynamics; plant life-cycle; employment dynamics; manufacturing. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2011-08, Revised 2013-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dge, nep-hme, nep-lab and nep-lma
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Downloads: (external link)
https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2011/CES-WP-11-24R.pdf Revised version, 2013 (application/pdf)
https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2011/CES-WP-11-24.pdf First version, 2011 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cen:wpaper:11-24

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