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Do wages underestimate the inequality in workers' rewards? The joint distribution of job quality and wages across occupations

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  • Andrew E. Clark
  • Maria Cotofan
  • Richard Layard

Abstract

Information on both wages and job quality is needed in order to understand the occupational dispersion of wellbeing. We analyse subjective wellbeing in a large UK sample to construct a measure of ‘overall reward’, the sum of wages and the value of job quality, in 90 different occupations. If only wages are included, then labour market inequality is underestimated: the dispersion of overall rewards is one‐third larger than the dispersion of wages. Our findings are similar, and stronger, in data on US workers. We find a positive correlation between job quality and wages in all specifications, both between individuals in the cross‐section and within individuals in panel data. The gender and ethnic gaps in the labour market are larger than those in wages alone, and the overall rewards to education on the labour market are underestimated by earnings differentials alone.

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  • Andrew E. Clark & Maria Cotofan & Richard Layard, 2024. "Do wages underestimate the inequality in workers' rewards? The joint distribution of job quality and wages across occupations," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 91(362), pages 497-546, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:econom:v:91:y:2024:i:362:p:497-546
    DOI: 10.1111/ecca.12516
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Paige Ouimet & Geoffrey Tate, 2023. "Firms with Benefits? Nonwage Compensation and Implications for Firms and Labor Markets," NBER Working Papers 31463, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Chen, Le-Yu & Oparina, Ekaterina & Powdthavee, Nattavudh & Srisuma, Sorawoot, 2022. "Robust Ranking of Happiness Outcomes: A Median Regression Perspective," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 672-686.
    3. Elliott, Robert F. & Sandy, Robert, 1998. "Adam Smith may have been right after all: A new approach to the analysis of compensating differentials," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 127-131, April.
    4. Jason Sockin, 2022. "Show Me the Amenity: Are Higher-Paying Firms Better All Around?," CESifo Working Paper Series 9842, CESifo.
    5. Timothy N. Bond & Kevin Lang, 2019. "The Sad Truth about Happiness Scales," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(4), pages 1629-1640.
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    7. Clark, Andrew E. & Kozák, Michal, 2023. "Twenty Years of Job Quality in OECD Countries: More Good News?," IZA Discussion Papers 16597, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Bryson, Alex & Barth, Erling & Dale-Olsen, Harald, 2012. "Do higher wages come at a price?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 251-263.
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    Cited by:

    1. Benjamin Schneider & Jane Whittle, 2024. "Where is the Place in the History of Work? Worksites, Workspaces, and the Home-Work Nexus," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _213, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.

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