Down from the Mountain: Skill Upgrading and Wages in Appalachia

Christopher Bollinger, James Ziliak and Kenneth Troske

Journal of Labor Economics, 2011, vol. 29, issue 4, 819 - 857

Abstract: The Appalachian region has experienced persistently higher poverty and lower earnings than the rest of the United States. We examine whether skill differentials or differences in the returns to those skills lie at the root of the Appalachian wage gap. Using census data, we decompose the Appalachian wage gap using both mean and full distribution methods. Our findings suggest that significant upgrading of skills within the region has prevented the gap from widening over the last 20 years. Additionally we find that urban areas within Appalachia have not experienced the rise in returns to skills as in non-Appalachian urban areas.

Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/660773 (application/pdf)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/660773 (text/html)
Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.

Related works:
Working Paper: Down from the Mountain: Skill Upgrading and Wages in Appalachia (2009)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucp:jlabec:doi:10.1086/660773

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Labor Economics from University of Chicago Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Journals Division ().