Changes in earnings instability and job loss

This paper examines the contribution of job loss or displacement to increas ing male earnings instability between 1970 and 1991. Earnings instability i ncreased among both displaced and not-displaced men, so changes associated with job loss cannot fully explain rising instability. Changes in the incid ence and consequences of job loss did, however, add substantially to growin g earnings instability and to the overall variance of earnings. There is ev idence that displacement substantially raised earnings volatility for sever al years after job loss, That effect. combined with increased numbers of re cently displaced workers in the 1980s relative to the previous decade, cont ributed to rising overall earnings instability.