Abstract
Previous estimates of state and local government wage differentials have been typically based on data aggregated across all states, and such aggregation may produce seriously misleading differential estimates. We estimate intrastate earnings differentials for the state and local sectors in Wisconsin, four other midwestern states, and two states outside the midwest. There is substantial variation in the differentials: aggregated differentials can be misleading. Our work also confirms that state and local government labor markets have reduced earnings dispersion and investigates the possibility that higher public sector earnings may attract an “over-qualified” work force.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bellante, Don, and James Long. “The Political Economy of a Rent-Seeking Society: The Case of Public Employees and their Unions.”Journal of Labor Research 2 (Spring 1981): 1–13.
Belman, Dale, Thomas Franklin, and John Heywood. “Comparing Public and Private Earnings Using State Wage Surveys.”Journal of Economic and Social Measurement 20 (May 1994): 79–94.
Belman, Dale, and John Heywood. “Job Attributes and Federal Wage Differentials.”Industrial Relations 32 (Winter 1993): 148–57.
_____. “Direct and Indirect Effects of Unionization and Government Employment on Fringe Benefit Provision.”Journal of Labor Research 12 (Spring 1991): 111–22.
_____. “The Effect of Establishment and Firm Size on Public Wage Differentials.”Public Finance Quarterly 18 (April 1990): 221–35.
_____. “Public Wage Differentials and Public Administration ‘Industry’.”Industrial Relations 27 (Fall 1988): 385–94.
Fogel, Walter, and David Lewin. “Wage Determination in the Public Sector.”Industrial and Labor Relations Review 27 (April 1974): 410–31.
Heywood, John, and Madhu Mohanty. “Testing for State and Local Government Job Queues.”Journal of Labor Research 14 (Fall 1993): 455–67.
Linneman, Peter, and Michael Wachter. “The Economics of Federal Compensation.”Industrial Relations 29 (Winter 1990): 58–76.
Moore, William, and Robert Newman. “Government Wage Differentials in a Municipal Labor Market: The Case of Houston Metropolitan Transit Workers.”Industrial and Labor Relations Review 45 (October 1991): 145–53.
Moore, William, and John Raisian. “Government Wage Differentials Revisited.”Journal of Labor Research 12 (Winter 1991): 13–34.
Oaxaca, Ronald. “Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets.”International Economic Review 14 (October 1973): 693–709.
Quinn, Joseph. “Wage Differentials Among Older Workers in the Public and Private Sectors.”Journal of Human Resources 14 (Winter 1979): 42–62.
Samuels, Myra. “Simpson’s Paradox and Related Phenomena.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 88 (1993): 81–88.
Smith, Sharon. “Government Wage Differentials.”Journal of Urban Economics 4 (July 1977): 179–97.
_____. “Government Wage Differentials by Sex.”Journal of Human Resources 11 (Spring 1976): 185–99.
Venti, Steven. “Wages in the Federal and Private Sectors.” In David Wise, ed.,Public Sector Payrolls. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986, pp. 147–82.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The authors thank the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute for financial support and members of the UWM economics seminar and Sammis White for detailed comments on earlier drafts.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Belman, D., Heywood, J.S. State and local government wage differentials: An intrastate analysis. Journal of Labor Research 16, 187–201 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02685740
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02685740