[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-324093-105":59,"doc-detail-324093-en":131},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":124,"head_meta":126,"extra_data":128,"updated_unix":130},105,"en","whats-happening-to-labor-compensation","What's Happening to Labor Compensation?","","Economic Commentary examines why wage growth has remained stable despite strong employment conditions. It challenges the idea of newly increased wage rigidity, arguing instead that wage-setting in the United States is shifting toward greater flexibility. Evidence links this change to both industrial reallocation of jobs and structural modifications in compensation practices, including quicker market-to-worker transmission as contract-based rigidity declines. ",{"@graph":69,"@context":123},[70,84,106],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/whats-happening-to-labor-compensation/324093/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/whats-happening-to-labor-compensation/324093.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Oliver","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-27","2026-09-21",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":105},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",14,{"@type":107,"mainEntity":108},"FAQPage",[109,115,119],{"name":110,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":112},"Why have wages remained stable despite high employment levels?","Question",{"text":113,"@type":114},"Wages have not accelerated because inflation has not accelerated and the labor market is not tight. The stability also reflects a fundamental shift toward more flexible wage-setting rather than new wage rigidity.","Answer",{"name":116,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":117},"What data are used to show trends in compensation and inflation?",{"text":118,"@type":114},"Figure 2 charts the percent change in nominal compensation per hour and the Consumer Price Index since 1950, showing compensation growth slowing in most quarters since 1980.",{"name":120,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":121},"How does the paper explain increased wage flexibility?",{"text":122,"@type":114},"Enhanced flexibility comes from a shift in employment away from rigid-wage contract labor markets and from changes in compensation practices, especially as more workers move into jobs with shorter-term wage variability.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":125,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":127,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":129,"site_id":62},324093,1790196128,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":132},{"doc_id":129,"user_id":133,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":105,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":24,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},8796095461610,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","# What's Happening toLabor Compensation?\n\nby Erica L.Groshen  \nEeen int is fth year,the curenteconomic expansion appears to haveplenty of steam.Real gross nationalproduct grew by 3.9 percent in 1987,and most analysts predict continuedexpansion this year.  \nLooming on the horizon,however,are early signs of tightening marketsthat could slow the expansion:histor-ically high capacity-utilization ratesand low unemployment rates.Highcapacity-utilization levels have raisedconcern about shortages that couldfuel further price increases in theproduct marketCurrent low unem-ployment rates(see figure 1)haveled to expectations that increaseddemand for labor will raise wages.  \nAlthough price increases in someindustries have accelerated recently,labor costs as yet show few signs of fol-owing suit.One explanation for thiswage stability is simply that rigiditiesin compensation practices have con-tained the mounting pressures in thelabor market.Eventually,like theuncoiling of a spring,the pressureswill be released and will lead to ageneralized increase in labor costs.  \nThis Economic Commentary arguesagainst that explanation for the currentstability of wages by presenting evi-dence that wage-setting in the UnitedStates is undergoing a fundamentalshift toward flexibility.Enhanced flex-ibility originates both from a shift inthe industrial composition of employment and from far-reaching changesin compensation practices in manufac·turing and other rigid-wage sectors.  \nWage growth has not acceleratedbecause inflation has not acceleratedand because the labor market is nottight.However,if and when theseconditions change,the greater wageflexibility should make compensationadjustments more rapid and moreaccurate than they were in the past.  \n## ■ Current Trends in\n\nCompensation Levels  \nWhat is happening to compensationlevels,while employment is so high?Figure 2 charts the percent change innominal compensation per hour andin the Consumer Price Index(a meas-ure of inflation)since 1950.The rateof increase of compensation hasfallen in almost every quarter since1980.Nominal compensation rose byless than 3 percent in 1987.In this se-ries,no sign of any impact of employment growth on wages is yet evident.  \nMay 15,1988  \nDespite recent low unemploymentrates and high capacity-utilizationlevels,wages have remained stable.This stability is not a result of newwage rigidity.Wages have undergonea fundamental shift toward flexibilitybecause of changes in the industrialcomposition of employment and inthe structure of compensation.  \nOther sources confirm the prevalenceof wage moderation in the economy.For example,a recent salary survey byThe Conference Board indicates thatemployers plan to raise salaries in1988 by no more than they did in1986 and 1987.1  \nThe union sector also provides strongevidence of wage moderation.Unionrepresentation of U.S.workers hasdeclined steadily(from 39 percent in1955 to 16 percent in 1987)and islargely confined to five key sectors:manufacturing,transportation,com-munications,utilities,and construction.Nevertheless,unions stronglyinfluence wage movements in the  \nFIGURE 1 UNEMPLOYMENT RATE(Nonagricultural,private,wage and salary workers)  \nSOURCE:US.Department of labcor,Bureau of labor Statistics.  \nFIGURE 2 PERCENT CHANGE IN NOMINAL COMPENSATION PER HOUR(Nonfarm business sector)AND IN CONSUMER PRICE INDEX(Urban wage earners)  \nPercent  \nSOURCE:US.Department of labor,Bureau of Labor Statistics.  \nwas 2.1 percent per year over the lifeof the contract.This slight increasefrom the 1.8 percent rise in 1986 con·tracts is less likely to be affected by  \neconomy,even today and even out-side the sectors they dominate.Unionwage bargains typically spill over intothe nonunion sector and affect aver-age wage growth.  \ninflation than in the past,because  \nIn 1987,27 percent of unionizedworkers agreed to wage settlementsthat either offered no immediatewage increase or specified a wagereduction.The average wage increasein union agreements signed in 19","cbCaidOEFP7QRtdl","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaidOEFP7QRtdl","pdf",1073928,"English","# Current Trends in Compensation Levels\n## Have Wages Become Inflexible?","[{\"question\":\"Why have wages remained stable despite high employment levels?\",\"answer\":\"Wages have not accelerated because inflation has not accelerated and the labor market is not tight. The stability also reflects a fundamental shift toward more flexible wage-setting rather than new wage rigidity.\"},{\"question\":\"What data are used to show trends in compensation and inflation?\",\"answer\":\"Figure 2 charts the percent change in nominal compensation per hour and the Consumer Price Index since 1950, showing compensation growth slowing in most quarters since 1980.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper explain increased wage flexibility?\",\"answer\":\"Enhanced flexibility comes from a shift in employment away from rigid-wage contract labor markets and from changes in compensation practices, especially as more workers move into jobs with shorter-term wage variability.\"}]","What's Happening to Labor Compensation? | PDF",1789967009,13]