The Changing Nature of Wage Inequality

Thomas Lemieux

No 13523, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The paper reviews recent developments in the literature on wage inequality, with a particular focus on why inequality growth has been particularly concentrated in the top end of the wage distribution over the last 15 years. Several possible institutional and demand-side explanations are discussed for the secular growth in wage inequality in the United States and other advanced industrialized countries. The paper concludes that three promising explanations for the growth in top-end wage inequality are de-unionization, the increased prevalence of pay for performance, and changes in the relative demand for the types of tasks performed by workers in high-paying occupations.

JEL-codes: J24 J31 J51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-hpe and nep-lab
Note: LS
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (37)

Published as Thomas Lemieux, 2008. "The changing nature of wage inequality," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 21-48, January.

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