Has Performance Pay Increased Wage Inequality in Britain?

Mark Bryan () and Alex Bryson

No 8995, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Using data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) we show performance pay (PP) increased earnings dispersion among men and women, and to a lesser extent among full-time working women, in the decade of economic growth which ended with the recession of 2008. PP was also associated with some compression in the lower half of the wage distribution for women. The effects were predominantly associated with a broad measure of PP that included bonuses. However, these effects were modest and there is no indication that PP became increasingly prevalent, as some had predicted, over the decade prior to recession.

Keywords: wage inequality; performance pay; bonuses; wages (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J31 J33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 48 pages
Date: 2015-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cta, nep-dem, nep-hrm and nep-lma
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published - published in: Labour Economics, 2016, 41, 149-161

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Related works:
Journal Article: Has performance pay increased wage inequality in Britain? (2016)
Working Paper: Has Performance Pay Increased Wage Inequality in Britain? (2015)
Working Paper: Has performance pay increased wage inequality in Britain? (2015)
Working Paper: Has performance pay increased wage inequality in Britain? (2015)
Working Paper: Has Performance Pay Increased Wage Inequality in Britain? (2015)
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