Who's Not Working and Why
Employment, Cognitive Skills, Wages, and the Changing U.S. Labor Market

This 1999 book explains why wages have become unequal, why wages in high-skilled jobs have risen while others have stagnated or fallen.

Frederic L. Pryor (Author), David L. Schaffer (Author)

9780521651523, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 January 1999

316 pages, 12 b/w illus. 52 tables
23.5 x 16 x 2.3 cm, 0.588 kg

"In this ingenious and important book, Pryor and Schaffer attempt to make sense of observations about resent U.S. history. Part of what makes their treatment ingenious is the fact that they supplement the Current Population Survey, the customary source in this sort of inquiry, with data on cognitive capacities from the National Adult Literacy Survey, which contain information on both language and quantitative skills." Canada Review of Sociology Anthropology

Presenting a radically different view of the operations of the labor market, in this 1999 book Professors Pryor and Schaffer explain the growing inequality in wages and how those with the least education are being squeezed out of the labor market. Why have wages in those jobs requiring extra-high cognitive skills risen while all other wages have stagnated or fallen? And why are more university graduates taking high-school jobs? The authors of this volume present data revealing that jobs which require a high educational level are increasing more slowly than those with somewhat lower requirements. However such jobs are increasing faster than those requiring still less formal education. Professors Pryor and Schaffer also show how women are replacing men in jobs which require higher levels of education and, moreover, how those with high cognitive skills are replacing those with lower cognitive skills.

Acknowledgements
Part I. Introduction: 1. The changing labor market
Part II. Employment, Cognitive Skills, and Job Displacement: 2. Cognitive skills, education, and other determinants of employment
3. Upskilling and educational upgrading of occupations
4. Labor force displacement mechanisms
Part III. Wage Levels and Distribution: 5. Wage levels
6. The Distribution of Hourly Wages
Part IV. Alternative Approaches: 7. Five misleading theories about joblessness
8. Notes on subjective and institutional factors
Part V. Implications and Interpretations: 9. Final observations
Appendices
Bibliography
Name index
Subject index.

Subject Areas: Labour economics [KCF]