Does Salaried Status Affect Human Capital Accumulation?

Abstract

Human capital studies do not usually consider whether an individual is paid an hourly wage or a salary. The authors of this paper develop a conceptual framework that explains why some workers are paid salaries and predicts that salaried workers will invest more in human capital than will hourly workers. In particular, this prediction hinges on the differing effort incentives facing hourly and salaried workers, and their employers, in jobs that are paced versus unpaced. Empirical evidence supporting this prediction and other hypotheses implied by the proposed framework is presented using data on individuals covering a 16-month period in 1984–85 from the Bureau of Census Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), a longitudinal survey.