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Inequality and Employment Sensitivities to the Falling Labour Share

Author

Listed:
  • Marika Karanassou

    (Queen Mary, University of London and IZA)

  • Hector Sala

    (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and IZA)

Abstract
This paper aims at identifying the labour share (wage-productivity gap) as a major factor in the evolution of inequality and employment. To this end, we use annual data for the US, UK and Sweden over the past forty years and estimate country-specific systems of labour demand and Gini coefficient equations. Further to the statistical significance of our models, we validate their economic significance through counterfactual simulations. In particular, we evaluate the contributions of the labour share to the trajectories of inequality and employment during specific time intervals in the post-1990 years. We find that during the nineties the cost of a one percent increase in employment was in the range of 0.7%-0.9% higher inequality in all three countries. However, in the 2000s, whereas the inequality-employment sensitivity ratio slightly fell in the US, it exceeded unity in the countries on the other side of the Atlantic. It obtained its highest value in the UK, where a 1% growth in employment was achieved at the expense of 1.3% worsening in income inequality. In the light of the significant influence of the time-varying labour share on the inequality and employment time paths documented in our sample, the evolution of the wage-productivity gap deserves the attention of policy makers.

Suggested Citation

  • Marika Karanassou & Hector Sala, 2011. "Inequality and Employment Sensitivities to the Falling Labour Share," Working Papers 680, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    • Handle: RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:680
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    Cited by:

    1. Marika Karanassou & Hector Sala, 2012. "Distributional Consequences of Capital Accumulation, Globalisation and Financialisation in the US," Working Papers 695, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
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    3. Marika Karanassou & Héctor Sala, 2020. "Distributional Consequences of Technology, Trade Globalisation and Financialisation in the US," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 51(2), pages 275-303.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Income inequality; Labour income share; Employment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D30 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - General
    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity

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