An Essay on Real Wage Index Numbers

John Pencavel

No 5455, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Real wage index numbers have been used to measure movements in the standard of living of the typical worker. This paper describes some of these indicators for the United States and England. A new real wage index is proposed that resembles the sliding scale used to adjust wages in certain industries years ago. This new index is applied to U.S. manufacturing industry and it suggests a fall in real wages by about 40 percent since 1960. Workers’ distributional position in U.S. manufacturing has deteriorated considerably.

Keywords: index numbers; real wages; sliding scale (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2011-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-ltv
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: American Economic Review, 2011, 101 (3), 565–570

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Working Paper: An Essay on Real Wage Index Numbers (2010)
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