In this article, the author compares labor market trends in New York City with trends in the United States as a whole and uses a newly created index to relate these trends to differential changes in industrial structure. Although the national trend for real wage growth has been stagnant or negative for the last 15 years, New York City residents have enjoyed substantial real wage increases in the same period. Also, there is little evidence at the local level of the rising inequality of wage income distribution that has characterized the national labor market. New York City's unique industrial mix appears to be responsible for rising real income trends in the local economy.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bradbury, K.1986. The shrinking middle class. New England Economic Review (September-October): 41-55.
2.
Fuchs, V. R.1968. The service economy. New York: Columbia Univ. Press.
3.
Greenfield, H. I.1966. Manpower and the growth of producer services. New York: Columbia Univ. Press.
4.
Harrison, B. , and B. Bluestone. 1988. The great U turn: Corporate restructuring and the polarization of America. New York: Basic.
5.
Kroch, E.1991. Recent real income and wage trends in the United States. Federal Reserve Bank of New York Quarterly Review16 (summer): 36-39.
6.
Lawrence, R. Z.1984. Sector shifts and the size of the middle-class. The Brookings Review (fall): 3-11.
7.
Levy, F.1987. Dollars and dreams: The changing American income distribution. New York: Russell Sage.
8.
Maxwell, N. L.1990. Income inequality in the United States, 1947-1985. New York: Greenwood.
9.
New York City Council on Economic Education . 1991. New York metropolitan region fact book. New York: Author.
10.
New York State Department of Labor . 1975-1991. Insured employment series. New York: Author.
11.
New York State Department of Labor, Division of Research and Statistics. 1992. BLMI report no. 35, FY 1992. New York: Author.
12.
Plunkert, L. M.1990. The 1980s: A decade of job growth and industry shifts. Monthly Labor Review (September): 3-16.
13.
Rosenthal, N.1985. The shrinking middle-class: Myth or reality?Monthly Labor Review (March).
14.
Ryscavage, P.1986. Reconciling divergent trends in real income. Monthly Labor Review (July): 24-29.
15.
Stanback, T. , P. J. Bearse, T. Noyelle, and R. Karasek. 1981. Services: The new economy. Totowa, NJ: Allanheld, Osmun.
16.
U.S. Department of Labor . 1975-1991. Employment and earnings: Annual averages. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
17.
U.S. Department of Labor , Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). 1989. Handbook of labor statistics. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
18.
U.S. Department of Labor , Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). 1992. Table 15. Monthly Labor Review (November): 73.
