Previous research on the role of industrial structure in the earnings determination process has focused on concentration and unionization as barriers to competitive market forces. This focus has tended to discount the role of other dimensions of industrial structure in the process of earnings determination. Previous research has also been limited by a restrictive focus on manufacturing industries. This article addresses these issues by estimating a model of industrial structure and earnings that systematically considers dimensions of industrial structure other than concentration and unionization and that is estimated across all industries. The principal findings include an affirmation of the powerful roles of trade unions and government involvement in influencing both wages and benefits and the discovery of a negative effect of market concentration. These findings are interpreted within a resource perspective that views organizational structure as providing a source of potential power for both workers and owners in their struggle over improving earnings versus holding down labor costs. It is hoped that these findings will stimulate theoretical debate in this field as well as motivating the development of data sets that are more adequate for evaluating the role of industrial structure across all industries.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ASHENFELTER, O.
and G. JOHNSON (1972) “Unionism, relative wages, and labor quality in U.S. manufacturing industries.”Int. Economic Rev.13 (October): 488-508.
2.
BAILEY, W. R.
and A. E. SCHWENK (1980) “Wage rate variation by size of establishment.”Industrial Relations19 (Spring): 192-198.
3.
BERRY, C. H.
(1975) Corporate Growth and Diversification. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
4.
BLUESTONE, B.
and B. HARRISON (1982) The Deindustrialization of America. New York: Basic Books.
5.
DALTON, J. A.
and E. J. FORD, Jr. (1977) “Concentration and labor earnings in manufacturing and utilities.”Industrial and Labor Relations Rev.31 (October): 45-60.
6.
DUNCAN, O. D.
(1969) “Inheritance of poverty or inheritance of race?” pp. 85-110 in D.P. Moynihan (ed.) On Understanding Poverty. New York: Basic Books.
7.
DUNCAN, O. D.
(1975) Introduction to Structural Equation Models. New York: Academic Press.
8.
FIORITO, J.
and C. R. GREER (1982) “Determinants of U.S. unionism: past research and future needs.”Industrial Relations21 (Winter): 1-19.
9.
FREEMAN, R. B.
(1981) “The effect of unionism on fringe benefits.”Industrial and Labor Relations Rev.34 (July): 489-509.
10.
FREEMAN, R. B.
and J. L. MEDOFF (1979) “New estimates of private sector unionism in the United States.”Industrial and Labor Relations Rev.32 (January): 143-174.
11.
HAWORTH, C. T.
and D. W. RASMUSSEN (1971) “Human capital and inter-industry wages in manufacturing.”Rev. of Economics and Statistics53: (November): 376-380.
12.
HAWORTH, C. T.
and C. J. REUTHER (1978) “Industrial concentration and interindustry wage determination.”Rev. of Economics and Statistics60 (February): 85-95.
13.
HENDRICKS, W.
(1981) “Unionism, oligopoly and rigid wages.”Rev. of Economics and Statistics63 (May): 198-205.
14.
HODSON, R.
(1983) Workers' Earnings and Corporate Economic Structure. New York: Academic Press.
15.
HYMAN, R.
(1983) “White-collar workers and theories of class,” pp. 3-45 in R. Hyman and R. Price (eds.). The New Working Class? White-Collar Workers and Their Organizations. London: MacMillan.
16.
INGHAM, G. K.
(1967) “Organizational size, orientation to work and industrial behavior.”Sociology1 (September): 239-258.
17.
KAHN, L.
(1977) “Union impact: a reduced from approach.”Rev. of Economics and Statistics59 (November): 503-507.
18.
KALLEBERG, A. L.
, M. WALLACE, and R. P. ALTHAUSER (1981) “Economic segmentation, worker power, and income inequality.”Amer. J. of Sociology87 (November): 651-683.
19.
KIMBERLY, J. R.
(1976) “Organizational size and the structuralist perspective: a review, critique, and proposal.”Admin. Sci. Q.21 (December): 571-597.
20.
KWOKA, J. E., Jr.
(1983) “Monopoly, plant, and union effects on worker wages.”Industrial and Labor Relations Rev.36 (January): 251-257.
21.
LEVINSON, H.
(1967) “Unionism, concentration, and wage changes: toward a unified theory.”Industrial and Labor Relations Rev.20 (January): 198-205.
22.
LONG, J. E.
and A. N. LINK (1983) “The impact of market structure on wages, fringe benefits, and turnover,”Industrial and Labor Relations Rev.36 (January): 239-250.
23.
MARTIN, S.
and C. RENCE (1984) “Vertical spillovers, market concentration, union coverage, and wages.”J. of Labor Research5 (Spring): 177-189.
24.
MASTERS, S. H.
(1969) “An interindustry analysis of wages and plant size.”Rev. of Economics and Statistics51 (August): 341-345.
25.
MILLER, D. C.
and W. H. Form. (1980) Industrial Sociology. New York: Harper & Row.
26.
MITCHELL, D. J. B.
(1980) Unions, Wages, and Inflation. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
27.
O'CONNOR, J.
(1973) The Fiscal Crisis of the State. New York: St. Martin's Press.
28.
OSTER, G.
(1979) “A factor analytic test of the theory of the dual economy.”Rev. of Economics and Statistics61 (February): 33-39.
29.
PUGEL, T. A.
(1980) “Profitability, concentration and the interindustry variation in wages.”Rev of Economics and Statistics62 (May): 248-253.
30.
RAVENSCRAFT, D. J.
(1982) “Structure-Profit relations at the line of business and industry level.”Rev. of Economics and Statistics65 (February): 22-31.
31.
REES, A.
(1962) The Economics of Trade Unions. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
32.
ROSEN, S.
(1969) “Trade union power, threat effects and the extension of organization.”Rev. of Economic Studies36 (April): 185-196.
33.
SCHERER, F. M.
(1970) Industrial Market Structure and Economic Performance. Chicago: Rand McNally.
34.
SCHMALENSEE, R.
(1977) “Using the H-index of concentration with published data.”Rev. of Economics and Statistics59 (May): 186-193.
35.
SEGAL, M.
(1964) “The relation between union wage impact and market structure.”Q. J. of Economics78 (February): 96-114.
36.
SHALIT, S. S.
and U. SANKAR (1977) “The measurement of firm size.”Rev. of Economics and Statistics59 (August): 290-298.
37.
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census
(1952) Census of Population, 1950. Subject Reports: Occupation by Industry. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
38.
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census
(1972) Census of Population, 1970. Subject Reports: Occupation by Industry. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
39.
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census
(1977) Enterprise Statistics, 1972, Vol. 1: General Report on Industrial Organization. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
40.
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis
(1976) The National Income and Product Accounts of the United States, 1929-74. Statistical Tables. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
41.
U.S. Department of Commerce, Inter-Industry Economics Division
(1974) Input-Output Study, 1967: Inter-Industry Transportation and Trade Costs, 367 Industry Level (machine-readable data file). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce. (Distributed by Data and Program Library Service, Madison, WI.)
42.
U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare
(1973) Work in America. Cambridge: MIT Press.
43.
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
(1977) Analysis of Work Stoppages. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
44.
U.S. Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service
(1977) Statistics of Income, 1972, Vol. 1: Corporate Income Tax Returns. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
45.
WALLACE, M.
and A. L. KALLEBERG (1982) “Industrial transformation and the decline of craft: the decomposition of skill in the printing industry. 1931-1978.”Amer. Soc. Rev.47 (June): 307-324.
46.
WEISS, L. W.
(1966) “Concentration and labor earnings.”Amer. Econ. Rev.56 (March): 96-117.
47.
WRIGHT, E. O.
(1978) Class, Crisis and the State. London: New Left.
