On the interpretation of age-earnings profiles.

The writers contend that the use of cross-sectional age-earnings profiles to describe the course of earnings over the worklife of the average worker is not typically accurate. After referring to several examples of such erroneous interpretations from the labor economics literature, they elucidate w...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Journal of Labor Research Vol. 18; pp. 351 - 366
Autores principales: Thornton, Robert J., Rodgers, James D., Brookshire, Michael L.
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Science & Business Media B.V. Spring 1997
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:The writers contend that the use of cross-sectional age-earnings profiles to describe the course of earnings over the worklife of the average worker is not typically accurate. After referring to several examples of such erroneous interpretations from the labor economics literature, they elucidate why cross-sectional profiles fail to correctly depict longitudinal earnings profiles and demonstrate how different the two sets of profiles can be. In conclusion, they present numerous alternative reasons for the inverted U-shape of cross-sectional age-earnings profiles that have nothing to do with earnings peaking and then dropping prior to retirement.