Rv. Burkhauser et al., LABOR EARNINGS MOBILITY AND INEQUALITY IN THE UNITED-STATES AND GERMANY DURING THE GROWTH YEARS OF THE 1980S, International economic review, 38(4), 1997, pp. 775-794
Recent years have witnessed increased interest in issues of inequality
and mobility in the labor market. Using data from the Panel Study of
Income Dynamics and the German Socio-Economic Panel, we compare the la
bor earnings mobility of prime age men and women in the United States
and Germany during the growth years of the 1980s. Despite major differ
ences in labor market institutions we find very similar patterns in th
e two countries. Our formal models of labor earnings dynamics suggest
a great deal of persistence in both countries. In the United States th
is may derive from permanent individual-specific differences among men
, while in Germany random shocks are found to persist longer for men.
Women in Germany and the United States have similar earnings dynamics.