Wage Polarisation in the U.S. and the 'Flexibility' Debate

Bennett Harrison and Barry Bluestone

Cambridge Journal of Economics, 1990, vol. 14, issue 3, 351-73

Abstract: The proportion of workers earning low wages in the American economy declined from 1963 through 1979. Since 1979, both the low-wage and the high-wage shares of employment have increased, leading to wage polarization. Analysis of Current Population Survey data indicates that this occurred for both men and women. For men, this condition has been exacerbated by a secular stagnation in real median wages. These empirical developments in the distribution of labor income are analyzed in detail and discussed in light of theoretical debates about employers' attempts to increase labor "flexibility" under the pressure of declining profits. Copyright 1990 by Oxford University Press.

Date: 1990
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