The Structure of Wages: An International Comparison
Edward P. Lazear and Kathryn L. Shaw
Abstract
The distribution of income, the rate of pay raises, and the mobility of employees are crucial to understanding labor economics. Although research abounds on the distribution of wages across individuals in the economy, wage differentials within firms remain a mystery to economists. An effort to examine linked employer–employee data across countries, this book analyzes labor trends and their institutional background in the United States and eight European countries. A team of contributors reveal how a rising wage variance rewards star employees at a higher rate than ever before, how talent becom ... More
The distribution of income, the rate of pay raises, and the mobility of employees are crucial to understanding labor economics. Although research abounds on the distribution of wages across individuals in the economy, wage differentials within firms remain a mystery to economists. An effort to examine linked employer–employee data across countries, this book analyzes labor trends and their institutional background in the United States and eight European countries. A team of contributors reveal how a rising wage variance rewards star employees at a higher rate than ever before, how talent becomes concentrated in a few firms over time, and how outside market conditions affect wages in the twenty-first century. The book examines wage and income differences from a comparative perspective within and between countries such as Denmark, Italy, and the Netherlands.
Keywords:
distribution of income,
pay raises,
mobility of employees,
labor economics,
wage differentials,
labor trends,
wage variance,
star employees,
talent,
firms
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2009 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780226470504 |
| Published to Chicago Scholarship Online: February 2013 |
DOI:10.7208/chicago/9780226470511.001.0001 |
