Wage controversies: real wage stagnation, inequality and labour market institutions

Machin, Stephen ORCID: 0009-0004-8130-2701 (2024) Wage controversies: real wage stagnation, inequality and labour market institutions. LSE Public Policy Review, 3 (2). ISSN 2633-4046

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Abstract

Weak real wage growth, low wage work and higher wage inequality than the past are features of contemporary labour markets the world over. Longstanding wage controversies in economics are of relevance to them. This paper studies what has happened to wages in the British labour market over the past sixty years, connecting the observed trends to some of these wage controversies. The focus is on the role of labour market institutions for wage inequality, real wage stagnation and shifting wage norms. Given that UK real wages have stagnated for the longest duration of the past two centuries, and inequality remains high, the paper concludes with discussion of where inclusive real wage growth can come from to boost workers’ living standards as it did in the past.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://ppr.lse.ac.uk/
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Economics
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
JEL classification:	J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs > J31 - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials by Skill, Training, Occupation, etc. J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs > J38 - Public Policy J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J4 - Particular Labor Markets > J42 - Monopsony; Segmented Labor Markets J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J5 - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining > J51 - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
Date Deposited:	06 Mar 2024 15:03
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 04:05
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/122220

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