The Rise of Guard Labor in the United States: Evidence from Local Labor Markets

Luke Petach and Anastasia Wilson

Review of Radical Political Economics, 2024, vol. 56, issue 2, 185-213

Abstract: We examine the rise of “Guard Labor†—defined as occupations devoted to labor extraction—at the commuting zone level in the United States. Between 1950 and 2017 the share of the labor force employed in guard labor increased from 19.5 percent to 29.4 percent. We explore the local labor market correlates of guard labor and validate several predictions of the labor discipline model, while extending the model to the context of contemporary racial capitalism. The share of the labor force employed in guard labor is positively correlated with the household income Gini coefficient, negatively correlated with the fraction of the labor force in a union, and positively correlated with contemporary measures of local racial animosity. Consistent with the labor discipline model, an increase in the share of the labor force employed in supervisory occupations has a significant negative effect on nonsupervisory wages. JEL Classification: O17, P16, Z13, B51, B52

Keywords: guard labor; supervisory labor; incomplete contracts; inequality; local labor markets (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:56:y:2024:i:2:p:185-213

DOI: 10.1177/04866134231195390

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