Wage inequality does not fully capture differences in job quality. Jobs also differ along other key dimensions, including the prevalence of labor rights violations. We construct novel measures violation rates using data from federal agencies. Within local industries over time, a 10% increase average wage is associated with 0.15% decrease number violations per employee and 4% fines dollar pay. R...

F or gauging inflationary pressures, many policymakers and financial market analysts pay close attention to the behavior of wages. It is widely believed that if wage costs rise faster than productivity, the price level may rise as firms pass forward increased wage costs in the form of higher product prices. Hence changes in productivity-adjusted wages1 are believed to be a leading indicator of ...

The economics of search study the implications of frictions for individual behavior and market performance, due usually to imperfect information about exchange possibilities. This article reviews labor-market research in this area. Individuals search for a job offer by choosing a reservation wage and accepting jobs that pay above that wage. Firms create jobs to maximize profit. The probability ...

This paper focuses on the differences in earnings and labor force status of low-skilled prime age men in France, the United Kingdom, and the United States at the end of the 20th century, and their relation to the differences in wage dispersion. In the UK and the US, where the bottom of the wage distribution is more dispersed, the inactivity rate (sometimes called the not-in-labor force rate) am...