Category: Earnings

Earnings from manufacturing jobs in U.S continue to rise

Multi-ethnic workers wearing hardhats
Manufacturing on the rise in U.S.

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Adminstration

U.S.  Department of Commerce reports manufacturing wages and employment continues to rise the U.S. The new study uses a relatively new data source, the Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI), to analyze the earnings of new hires relative to incumbent workers in both manufacturing and non-manufacturing.

They find that new hires in the manufacturing sector earn more than new hires in other industries and have done particularly well since the recession began.

Highlight from the study include:

  • New hires in manufacturing enjoy an earnings premium relative to other new hires.  T
  • At the end of 2011, the ratio of new hire earnings to incumbent earnings was about 8 percentage points higher in manufacturing than in other industries.
  • Over time, the earnings of new hires relative to incumbents have been consistently higher in manufacturing.
  • Since the recession began, real average earnings for new hires in manufacturing grew 3.5 percent, while earnings of incumbents in manufacturing grew about 2.4 percent.

Studying labor market data for U.S. foreign born workers

Detailed data and the underlying micro data can be found at;

http://www.census.gov/population/foreign/

Two sources of information are:

Current Population Survey Data on the Foreign-Born Population

Detailed tables on the foreign-born population in the United States from the Current Population Survey shown by a wide range of characteristics including age, sex, marital status, employment status, occupation, industry, income, earnings, poverty status, household type, size and tenure, and metropolitan status

http://www.census.gov/population/foreign/data/cps.html

American Community Survey Data on the Foreign-Born Population

http://www.census.gov/population/foreign/data/acs.html

Earnings losses, fringe benefits multipliers, and taxable income

In earnings losses analyses which is relevant: total earnings or total taxable earnings?

A: Total earnings. Taxes and tax laws are subject to change. Additionally, fringe benefit values, such as those obtained from US BLS are based on earnings not taxable income.

Bottom line: tax treatments generally need to be backed out of income numbers when analyzing earnings losses.