Abstract
Texas has experienced job growth that is twice that of the rest of the nation. Despite this growth premium, the patterns of employment and wage polarization that characterize the nation are also apparent in Texas. The share of middle-wage jobs has declined while the shares of low- and high-wage jobs are increasing. Looking at Texas by decade, the 1990s stand out as a period when the highest-wage jobs grew the fastest. This trend was disrupted by the Great Recession, which erased most of the relative employment gains at the top of the wage distribution in both Texas and the nation. Consistent with the job polarization, cross-industry wages have grown more disparate over time, with more interindustry wage inequality in 2012 than in 1979.
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LoPalo, M., Orrenius, P.M. (2015). Employment Growth and Labor Market Polarization in the United States and Texas. In: Orrenius, P.M., Cañas, J., Weiss, M. (eds) Ten-Gallon Economy. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137530172_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137530172_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
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