An essay on real wage index numbers

Arbeitspapier

Real wage index numbers have been used to measure movements in the standard of living of the typical worker. This paper describes some of these indicators for the United States and England. A new real wage index is proposed that resembles the sliding scale used to adjust wages in certain industries years ago. This new index is applied to U.S. manufacturing industry and it suggests a fall in real wages by about 40 percent since 1960. Workers' distributional position in U.S. manufacturing has deteriorated considerably.

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• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 5455

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
• Subject: index numbers ; real wages ; sliding scale ; Reallohn ; Lohnstatistik ; Industriearbeiter ; Lebensstandard ; USA

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Pencavel, John H.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2011

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/46100
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-201104113283