Suchergebnisse

This paper analyzes whether a black-white racial wage differential exists in the nursing labor market in the US. Despite claims of a nursing shortage, little examination of whether racial inequalities in the labor market might contribute to this purported shortage has occurred. Possible explanations for black-white differences in RN compensation include racial differences in: occupation; returns to skills; metropolitan residency; union membership. Regression analysis on wages for registered nurses (RNs) was conducted. Findings suggest a wage penalty for nonunion black nurses compared to non-union white nurses as well as the absence of a racial wage differential for union nurses.

Focusing on the compression of wage cuts, many empirical studies find a high degree of downward nominal wage rigidity (DNWR). However, the resulting macroeconomic effects seem to be surprisingly weak. This contradiction can be explained within an intertemporal framework in which DNWR not only prevents nominal wage cuts but also induces firms to compress wage increases. We analyze whether a compression of wage increases occurs when DNWR is binding by applying Unconditional Quantile Regression and Seemingly Unrelated Regression to a data set comprising more than 169 million wage changes. We find evidence for a compression of wage increases and only very small effects of DNWR on average real wage growth. The results indicate that DNWR does not provide a strong argument against low inflation targets.

In an attempt to augment the lowest wages, the United States and several other countries utilize legal minimum wages. However, the minimum wage has potentially adverse employment effects. The analysis here suggests that an alternative policy that combines a minimum wage and a wage subsidy is superior to either by itself. Such a combination can assist the low wage worker, avoid disemployment effects, and maximize market efficiency.

Since 1945 there has been a constant upward movement of the indices of wage rates in Britain, average weekly earnings (only slightly affected by shifts in the employment distribution of wage earners), and retail prices. The margin between rates and earnings has progressively widened, to a consid erable degree owing to overtime pay. Wage rates and retail prices have shown parallel rises on the whole. The various factors involved in these movements are analyzed, including the policies of the Labour and the Conservative govern ments.—Ed.