Journal Article
The Evolution of the Labor Share across Developed Countries
Yang, Meifeng; Pinheiro, Roberto (2018-08)
In most developed countries, the share of output accruing to labor has declined over the last 20 years. However, the underlying reasons for the decrease may have differed in the United States and other developed countries. In this Commentary, we examine some of the explanations economists have proposed for the decline in the labor share and discuss how well these explanations account for the decline across developed countries.
Economic Commentary , Issue August

Journal Article
Revisiting Wage Growth after the Recession
Yang, Meifeng; Pinheiro, Roberto (2020-01-31)
In this Commentary, we show that realized wage growth since 2015 has mostly been at a rate that would be expected given observed rates of inflation and labor productivity growth. Moreover, labor productivity growth has been in line with its potential over the same period. This picture of the post-recession recovery of wages is very different from the one we observed in an earlier analysis, when all we had were data up through the end of 2015. The reasons underlying the difference are large revisions in labor productivity data and upticks in the inflation rate and labor productivity growth ...
Economic Commentary , Volume 2020 , Issue 02 , Pages 5

Journal Article
Job Loss Consequences and the Pandemic Recession
Guo, Angela; Krolikowski, Pawel; Yang, Meifeng (2023-02-03)
Workers displaced during the pandemic recession experienced better subsequent earnings and employment outcomes than workers displaced during previous recessions. A sharp recovery in aggregate labor market conditions after the pandemic recession accounts for these better outcomes. The industry and occupation composition of displaced workers, the prevalence of worker recalls, and the uptake of unemployment insurance benefits are unlikely explanations.
Economic Commentary , Volume 2023 , Issue 02 , Pages 9

Journal Article
Wage Growth after the Great Recession
Yang, Meifeng; Pinheiro, Roberto (2017-03)
Nominal wage growth since the Great Recession has been sluggish. We show that the sluggishness is due mostly to weak growth in labor productivity, as well as lower-than-expected inflation. We also find that wage growth since late 2014 has actually been above what would be consistent with realized labor-productivity growth and inflation, and this trend in wages reflects an increase in labor?s share of income. We show evidence that this increase in the labor share may be due to a reversal of the trend to replace labor with capital.
Economic Commentary , Issue March