War and pestilence as labor market shocks: manufacturing wage growth 1914-1919

Thomas Garrett

No 2006-018, Working Papers from Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Abstract: This paper explores the effect of mortalities from the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic and World War I on real wage growth in the manufacturing sectors of U.S. states from 1914 to 1919. The general hypothesis is that both events caused a significant decrease in the supply of manufacturing labor, thereby initially increasing the marginal product of labor and thus wages. The empirical results reveal that influenza mortalities led to a greater overall increase in real manufacturing wage growth, but the marginal effect on wage growth from an additional World War I combat mortality was greater than that from the influenza pandemic.

Keywords: Wages; Manufacturing industries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
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Journal Article: WAR AND PESTILENCE AS LABOR MARKET SHOCKS: U.S. MANUFACTURING WAGE GROWTH 1914–1919 (2009)
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