Differences in wage levels among metropolitan areas: Less-educated workersin the United States

This work investigates the causes of low wages for workers with a high scho ol education or less in the US, using a sample of 241 metropolitan areas dr awn from the 1990 Census. It examines the influence of five labour market c haracteristics on between-metropolitan area wage differences: labour demand , the minimum wage, unionization, industry mix and the race/gender composit ion of the labour force. The first four factors seem to affect both men's a nd women's wages, but the relative importance differs. For example, the evi dence suggests that unionization is the most important influence on men's w ages, while for women industry mix matters most.