Abstract
Brooks Pierce, John Ruser, and Kimberly D. Zieschang
(1996) "Constructing Interarea Compensation Cost Indexes
With Data from Multiple Surveys."
We compare the cost of labor input for 39 areas of the
United States using Tornqvist multilateral (transitive) place
to place index numbers incorporating characteristics-based,
hedonic labor composition adjustment as an integral feature.
Our composition adjustments are based on establishment data
at the level of the approximately 18,000 jobs priced in the
Employment Cost Index (ECI) survey, and worker data at the
level of the 39 areas in the ECI sample from the Current
Population Survey. We find that the compensation parities
prior to labor composition adjustment are generally more
variable from place to place than after adjustment, and that
the primary determinants of geographical compensation
variations after controlling for industry and occupation are
firm size and unionization from the establishment data, and
education/experience form the worker data.
Last Modified Date: July 19, 2008
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