Full Citation
Title: Technological Turbulence and Superstardom: Two Sources of Rising Inequality within Occupations
Citation Type: Working Paper
Publication Year: 2005
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Abstract: The paper analyzes trends in the dispersion of earnings within the most detailed occupation categories s for which consistent information is available from the Current Population Survey since 1968 and the decennial U.S. Census since 1960. The paper examines the evidence for rising inequality within certain kinds of jobs. New media technologies make it easier to transmit certain kinds of work, such as athletic performances to wider audiences around the world, enhancing the relative payoffs to the most-favored performers. This is the superstars effect described by Rosen (1981). Another set of occupations required close work with new semiconductor and information technologies, such as electrical engineers and computer programmers. These occupations experienced technological uncertainty and turbulence. Evidence here shows that within occupations in both classes, inequality has risen. The uncertainty and superstars effects occur to some intermediate extent in many occupations. Therefore we examine also occupations in which these effects are likely to be the weakest those that call for personal interaction with other individuals. Inequality within these occupations has not risen.
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Authors: Meyer, Peter B.
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Institution: Bureau of Labor Statistics
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Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Other
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