Have UK Earnings Distributions Polarised?

Craig Holmes and Ken Mayhew

INET Oxford Working Papers from Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford

Abstract: The occupational structure of many labour markets has shifted away from middle earning routine work (Goos and Manning, 2007). This polarisation phenomenon raises the question about the consequences for earnings distributions – a polarised workforce should be, all things being equal, increase the incidence of high pay and low pay and raise earnings inequality. However, if the wage structure changes, the implications are less clear. This paper examines earnings data in the UK between 1987 and 2012 and argues that recent occupational shifts do not necessarily lead to a polarisation of earnings.

Keywords: Polarisation; occupational structure; earnings distributions; low pay; demand for high skills (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J21 J24 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 57 pages
Date: 2015-12
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:amz:wpaper:2015-02

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