Full Citation

Title: The Impact of Organizational Changes on Aggregate Inequality: The Case of Downsizing

Citation Type: Conference Paper

Publication Year: 2004

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI:

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: Corporate restructuring has been widespread and yet there has been little empirical analysis of the relationship between organizational changes and rising aggregate wage inequality. This paper focuses on one piece of this relationship: the impact of establishment size and establishment size changes (i.e., downsizing) on levels and changes in wage inequality in U.S. cities over the 1970 to 2000 period. Organizational structures associated with more formal and equitable employment relationsas measured by larger average establishment size, more (less) employment in large (small) establishments, and a greater share of all establishments that are largeare associated with lower levels of wage inequality, particularly at the top of the distribution and among women. However, these findings hold only for the earlier years (1969 and 1979), suggesting that these organizational forms no longer have the impact they once had (so it would not matter whether downsizing has been as dramatic as many have assumed). Consistent with this interpretation, the 1980s was the only decade of the three in which a decline in establishment size resulted in a significant increase in inequality, net of controls for other factors associated with rising wage inequality. These transformations fit very well with the timing of rising wage inequality and the spread of organizational restructuring in the 1980s.

User Submitted?: No

Authors: McCall, Leslie

Conference Name: American Sociological Association

Publisher Location: San Francisco, CA

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Other

Countries: