Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Tweet[IWS] NBER: Rising Family Income Inequality in the United States, 1968-2000: Impacts of Changing Labor Supply, Wages, and Family Structure
IWS Documented News Service
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Institute for Workplace Studies Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 Director, IWS News Bureau
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Rising Family Income Inequality in the United States, 1968-2000: Impacts of Changing Labor Supply, Wages, and Family Structure
http://papers.nber.org/papers/w11836.pdf
[full-text, 36 pages]
Chulhee Lee
NBER Working Paper No. 11836
Issued in December 2005
---- Abstract -----
http://www.nber.org/papers/w11836
This study estimates what fraction of the rise in family income inequality in the United States between 1968 and 2000 is accounted for by change in each of the family income components such as wages, employment, and hours worked of family heads and spouses, family structure, and other incomes. The increased disparities in other incomes and labor supply account for, respectively, 29 percent and 28 percent of the rise in the difference in income between the top 10th and bottom 10th families. Structural changes in wages, largely regarded as the major culprit of the increase in income inequality, explain less than a quarter of the rise in the measure of family income inequality. Changing fraction of families with both husband and wife and changes in the composition of the income sources account for 11 percent and 16 percent, respectively, of the widening of the income gap. The relative importance of the effect of changing labor supply declined over time, while that of wage changes increased. For the upper half of the income distribution, wage changes were the dominant cause of the increase in the gap between the richest 10th and middle-income families. For the lower half of the income distribution, in sharp contrast, changes in labor supply and other incomes were the principal causes of the growing distance between the poor and middle-income families.
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky *
Director, IWS News Bureau *
Institute for Workplace Studies *
Cornell/ILR School *
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor *
New York, NY 10016 *
*
Telephone: (607) 255-2703 *
Fax: (607) 255-9641 *
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu *
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_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
Rising Family Income Inequality in the United States, 1968-2000: Impacts of Changing Labor Supply, Wages, and Family Structure
http://papers.nber.org/papers/w11836.pdf
[full-text, 36 pages]
Chulhee Lee
NBER Working Paper No. 11836
Issued in December 2005
---- Abstract -----
http://www.nber.org/papers/w11836
This study estimates what fraction of the rise in family income inequality in the United States between 1968 and 2000 is accounted for by change in each of the family income components such as wages, employment, and hours worked of family heads and spouses, family structure, and other incomes. The increased disparities in other incomes and labor supply account for, respectively, 29 percent and 28 percent of the rise in the difference in income between the top 10th and bottom 10th families. Structural changes in wages, largely regarded as the major culprit of the increase in income inequality, explain less than a quarter of the rise in the measure of family income inequality. Changing fraction of families with both husband and wife and changes in the composition of the income sources account for 11 percent and 16 percent, respectively, of the widening of the income gap. The relative importance of the effect of changing labor supply declined over time, while that of wage changes increased. For the upper half of the income distribution, wage changes were the dominant cause of the increase in the gap between the richest 10th and middle-income families. For the lower half of the income distribution, in sharp contrast, changes in labor supply and other incomes were the principal causes of the growing distance between the poor and middle-income families.
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
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# posted by SBasefsky : 9:22 AM
