The Role of Establishments and the Concentration of Occupations in Wage Inequality
September 2015
Working Paper Number:
CES-15-26
Abstract
This paper uses the microdata of the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) Survey to assess the contribution of occupational concentration to wage inequality between establishments and its growth over time. We show that occupational concentration plays an important role in wage determination for workers, in a wide variety of occupations, and can explain some establishmentlevel
wage variation. Occupational concentration is increasing during the 2000-2011 time period, although much of this change is explained by other observable establishment characteristics. Overall, occupational concentration can help explain a small amount of wage inequality growth between establishments during this time period.
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:
economist,
payroll,
earnings,
employee,
employ,
employed,
labor,
employment growth,
establishment,
workplace,
workforce,
worker,
employment wages,
occupation,
wage variation,
labor statistics,
employment statistics,
trends employment
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:
Standard Industrial Classification,
Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Center for Economic Studies,
University of Maryland,
Current Population Survey,
Longitudinal Business Database,
Employer Identification Numbers,
Washington University,
Standard Occupational Classification,
North American Industry Classification System,
NBER Summer Institute,
Occupational Employment Statistics,
Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages,
Society of Labor Economists
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