A decline in pension coverage during the 1980s for males in the private sector is
confirmed and is contrasted with the federal, state, and local sectors in which no such decline is found. As a consequence, the governmental advantage in the
probability of coverage grew over the 1980s. This remains true even in the most
appropriate testing methodology m which worker earnings are endogenous and in
which otherwise constant characteristics are moved between years and sectors.
Government wage differentials are estimated as a byproduct of this methodology
and show a tendency toward comparability over the 1980s.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Belman, Dale, and John Heywood.1996. The structure of compensation in the public sector. In Public sector employment m a time of transition , edited by Dale Belman, Morley Gunderson and Douglas Hyatt, 127-63. Madison, WI: Industrial Relations Research Association.
2.
—. 1991. Direct and indirect effects of unionization and government employment on fringe benefit provision. Journal of Labor Research12(2):111-23.
3.
Blackburn, McKinley, David Bloom, and Richard Freeman .1990. The declining economic position of less skilled Americans. In Afuture of lousy jobs? , edited by Gary Burtless, 31-67. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
4.
Bloom, David, and Richard Freeman .1992. The fall in private pension coverage in the United States. American Economic Review82(2):539-44.
5.
Even, William, and David Macpherson .1993. Why did male pension coverage decline in the 1980s? Industrial and Labor Relations Review47(3):439-53.
6.
Freeman, Richard.1981. The effect of unionism on fringe benefits. Industrial and Labor Relations Review34:489-509.
7.
Lovejoy, Lora Mills.1982. The comparative value of public and pnvate pensions . Monthly Labor Review, December, 18-26.
8.
Parsons, Donald.1991The decline in pnvate pension coverage in the United States . Economics Letters36.419-23
9.
Quinn, Joseph.1982Pension wealth of government and pnvate sector workersAmerican Economic Review72:283-7.
10.
Reder, Melvin.1975. The theory of employment and wages in the public sector . In Labor in the public and nonprofit sectors, edited by Daniel Hamermesh.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
11.
Scott, Frank, Mark Berger, and Dan Black.1989. Effects of the tax treatment of fringe benefits on labor market segmentation. Industrial and Labor Relations Review42:216-9.
12.
Smith, Sharon.1977. Government wage differentials. Journal of Urban Economics4:179-97.
13.
Wiatrowski, William1988. Comparing employee benefits in the public and private sectors. Monthly Labor Review111:3-8.
14.
Woodbury, Stephen, and Douglas Bettinger .1991. The decline of fringe-benefit coverage in the 1980s. In Structural change in U.S. labor markets , edited by Randal Eberts and Erica Groshen, 105-38. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
