What Explains the Decline of the U.S. Labor Share of Income? : An Analysis of State and Industry Level Data

Abdih, Y. (Yasser) (author.). Danninger, Stephan, (author.).

Summary: The U.S. labor share of income has been on a secular downward trajectory since the beginning of the new millennium. Using data that are disaggregated across both state and industry, we show the decline in the labor share is broad-based but the extent of the fall varies greatly. Exploiting a new data set on the task characteristics of occupations, the U.S. input-output tables, and the Current Population Survey, we find that in addition to changes in labor institutions, technological change and different forms of trade integration lowered the labor share. In particular, the fall was largest, on average, in industries that saw: a high initial intensity of "routinizable" occupations; steep declines in unionization; a high level of competition from imports; and a high intensity of foreign input usage. Quantitatively, we find that the bulk of the effect comes from changes in technology that are linked to the automation of routine tasks, followed by trade globalization.

Record details

ISBN: 9781484312995
ISBN: 9781484311004
ISBN: 1484312996
ISBN: 1484311000
Physical Description: 1 online resource (27 pages)
remote
Computer data.
Publisher: [Washington, D.C.] : International Monetary Fund, [2017]
Copyright: �2017

Content descriptions

General Note:	CatMonthString:april.21 Multi-User.
Formatted Contents Note:	6. Modeling the Change in the Labor Share: Robustness Checks IIIAppendix; I. Variable Construction.
Type of Computer File or Data Note:	Text (HTML), electronic book.
System Details Note:	Mode of access: Internet.
Terms Governing Use and Reproduction Note:	Access requires VIU IP addresses and is restricted to VIU students, faculty and staff. Access restricted by subscription.
Issuing Body Note:	Made available online by EBSCO.
Source of Description Note:	Print version record.