Lifetime Incomes in the United States over Six Decades. Guvenen, F., Kaplan, G., Song, J., & Weidner, J. Technical Report National Bureau of Economic Research, 2017. 00000
Lifetime Incomes in the United States over Six Decades [link]Paper  abstract   bibtex   
Using panel data on individual labor income histories from 1957 to 2013, we document two empirical facts about the distribution of lifetime income in the United States. First, from the cohort that entered the labor market in 1967 to the cohort that entered in 1983, median lifetime income of men declined by 10%–19%. We find little-to-no rise in the lower three-quarters of the percentiles of the male lifetime income distribution during this period. Accounting for rising employer-provided health and pension benefits partly mitigates these findings but does not alter the substantive conclusions. For women, median lifetime income increased by 22%–33% from the 1957 to the 1983 cohort, but these gains were relative to very low lifetime income for the earliest cohort. Much of the difference between newer and older cohorts is attributed to differences in income during the early years in the labor market. Partial life-cycle profiles of income observed for cohorts that are currently in the labor market indicate that the stagnation of lifetime incomes is unlikely to reverse. Second, we find that inequality in lifetime incomes has increased significantly within each gender group. However, the closing lifetime gender gap has kept overall lifetime inequality virtually flat. The increase within gender groups is largely attributed to an increase in inequality at young ages, and partial life-cycle income data for younger cohorts indicate that the increase in inequality is likely to continue. Overall, our findings point to thesubstantial changes in labor market outcomes for younger workers as a critical driver of trends in both the level and inequality of lifetime income over the past 50 years.
@techreport{guvenen_lifetime_2017,
	title = {Lifetime {Incomes} in the {United} {States} over {Six} {Decades}},
	url = {http://www.nber.org/papers/w23371},
	abstract = {Using  panel  data  on  individual  labor  income  histories  from  1957  to  2013,  we  document  two empirical facts  about  the  distribution  of  lifetime  income  in  the  United  States.  First,  from  the  cohort  that  entered the  labor  market  in  1967  to  the  cohort  that  entered  in  1983,  median  lifetime  income of men declined by 10\%–19\%. We find little-to-no rise in the lower three-quarters of the percentiles  of  the  male  lifetime income  distribution  during  this  period.  Accounting  for  rising  employer-provided  health  and  pension benefits  partly  mitigates  these  findings  but  does  not  alter the  substantive  conclusions.  For  women, median  lifetime  income  increased  by  22\%–33\%  from  the  1957  to  the  1983  cohort,  but  these  gains were  relative  to  very  low  lifetime  income  for  the earliest  cohort.  Much  of  the  difference  between  newer and  older  cohorts  is  attributed  to differences  in  income  during  the  early  years  in  the  labor  market.  Partial life-cycle  profiles  of  income observed for cohorts that are currently in the labor market indicate that the stagnation of lifetime  incomes  is  unlikely  to  reverse.  Second,  we  find  that  inequality  in  lifetime  incomes  has increased  significantly  within  each  gender  group.  However,  the  closing  lifetime  gender gap  has kept  overall  lifetime  inequality  virtually  flat.  The  increase  within  gender  groups  is  largely attributed  to  an  increase  in  inequality  at  young  ages,  and  partial  life-cycle  income  data  for  younger cohorts indicate that the increase in inequality is likely to continue. Overall, our findings point to thesubstantial changes in labor market outcomes for younger workers as a critical driver  of trends in both the level and inequality of lifetime income over the past 50 years.},
	urldate = {2017-05-28},
	institution = {National Bureau of Economic Research},
	author = {Guvenen, Fatih and Kaplan, Greg and Song, Jae and Weidner, Justin},
	year = {2017},
	note = {00000},
	keywords = {collapse, inequality},
	file = {Guvenen et al. - 2017 - Lifetime Incomes in the United States over Six Dec.pdf:C\:\\Users\\rsrs\\Documents\\Zotero Database\\storage\\WZ8MU8J9\\Guvenen et al. - 2017 - Lifetime Incomes in the United States over Six Dec.pdf:application/pdf}
}

Downloads: 0