Industry Characteristics and Inter‐regional Wage Differences

This paper utilizes two large micro data sets--the General Household Survey and the New Earnings Survey--to identify those factors that influence the interregional wage structure. Industry-regional wage mark-ups are generated from a traditional human capital model and are then used to examine the effect that industry-regional averages, like bargaining type, firm size, demand pressures, and consumer prices, have on residual hourly earnings differentials. The significance of union bargaining variables, together with the low elasticity found on unemployment, cast some doubt on a traditional competitive equilibrium model of wage determination.