Search Results
Journal Article
Earnings inequality: New York-New Jersey region
Over the past two decades, inequality trends in the New York-New Jersey region have largely followed the nation's: among year-round, full-time workers, the earnings gap has widened about 50 percent.
Report
The changing U.S. income distribution: facts, explanations, and unresolved issues
This paper explores the increase in income inequality since the late 1970s, with emphasis on wage inequality. The growth in wage inequality for men and women separately is documented and updated. Changes resulting from a rising education and experience premium are distinguished from those attributable to widening within-group inequality. These findings are then placed in the context of the existing literature on explanations for widening inequality.
Journal Article
Explaining the growing inequality in wages across skill levels
This article investigates two prominent explanations--technology and trade--for growing wage inequality by educational attainment. The analysis indicates a prominent role for technological improvements and a modest but still significant role for increased competition from imports.
Journal Article
Do rising labor costs trigger higher inflation?
The evidence that developments in compensation growth lead overall CPI inflation has thus far been inconclusive. This study, however, sheds new light on the relationship between labor costs and price inflation. By breaking down compensation and prices into their various components, the author finds that compensation growth in the service-producing segment of the private sector can help predict prices for a specific group of services.
Report
Using regional variation to explain widening earnings differentials by educational attainment
During the 1980s and early 1990s the earnings gap between individuals with a college education and those with no more than a high school diploma widened substantially.Two leading explanations are technological improvement, either by increasing demand for skilled workers or by displacing unskilled and semi-skilled workers, and the effect of increased competition from imports. Since the late 1970s, aggregate wage growth has varied significantly across states and regions. Moreover, while wage differentials have widened in virtually all states and regions, there is considerable variation in the ...
Journal Article
In brief: economic capsules: an overview of inflation measurement
This article surveys a variety of indexes used to measure inflation. The authors identify differences in the construction and coverage of these measures and touch on some of the issues affecting the measurement of prices for a broad range of goods and services.
Journal Article
New York City's unemployment picture
This issue of Second District Highlights briefly examines several explanations that have been offered for the rise in unemployment in New York City from 1994 to 1997.
Journal Article
A historical perspective on the 1989-92 slow growth period
This article compares the 1990-91 recession and the surrounding period of unusually sluggish growth with earlier recessionary episodes. Using a variety of indicators, the author assesses the relative severity of the latest recession and identifies features that distinguish this period from its predecessors. He also gauges the economy's recent performance by tracking the deviation of real GDP from various estimates of its potential level.