Machin, S;
Manning, A;
(2004)
A test of competitive labor market theory: The wage structure among care assistants in the south of England.
IND LABOR RELAT REV
, 57
(3)
371 - 385.
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Abstract
This paper examines the structure of wages in a very specific labor market: care assistants in residential homes for the elderly on England's "sunshine coast." This sector corresponds closely to economists' notion of what should be a competitive labor market, both because it has a large number of small firms undertaking a very homogeneous activity in a concentrated geographical area, and because the workers are neither unionized nor covered by any minimum wage legislation, so that there are effectively no external constraints on the wage-setting process. The authors find that the wage structure deviates in important respects from what would be expected in a competitive labor market. In particular, wage dispersion is small within firms, but large between firms; and the wage dispersion that is present does not seem to be closely related to workers' productivity-related characteristics. A test rejects the hypothesis that unobserved labor quality can explain these findings.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | A test of competitive labor market theory: The wage structure among care assistants in the south of England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Keywords: | JOB SENIORITY, UNEMPLOYMENT, WORKERS, EARNINGS, PRODUCTIVITY, EQUILIBRIUM, EXPERIENCE, DISPERSION, EMPLOYERS, PROFILES |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/16895 |
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