TY  - JOUR
AU  - Allen,Steven G.
TI  - Relative Wage Variability in the United States, 1860-1983
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 2221
PY  - 1989
Y2  - July 1989
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w2221
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w2221.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Steven G. Allen
Jenkins Graduate School of Management
NC State University
2124 Nelson Hall
Raleigh, NC  27695-7229
Tel: 919/515-6941
Fax: 919/515-5073
E-Mail: STEVE_ALLEN@NCSU.EDU
AB  - This paper examines the magnitude of changes in relative wages across industries between 1860 and 1983 and analyzes the macroeconomic determinants of such changes at different intervals during this period. The variance across industries in wage growth was at least four times larger before 1948 than afterward. Except for smaller year-to-year variability in output growth across industries after 1948, the macroeconomic factors examined cannot account for this increased rigidity of relative wages. Increases in average establishment size and improved communication of wage trends are probably partially responsible for the observed increase in relative wage rigidity. No single macroeconomic model was consistent with the year-to-year fluctuations in relative wage rigidity in every historical period examined.
ER  -