Working Paper Series,
Uppsala University, Department of Economics

Abstract: Using a large Swedish longitudinal database for the period 1982–2005, I estimate and compare within-group inequality in persistent and transitory earnings among men with high-school and college degrees. Analyses of inequality over the life cycle reveal that experience-variance profiles of persistent earnings are very similar across the two education groups and also consistent with standard human capital models of on-the-job training. Transitory earnings shocks display a marked U-shaped variance pattern over the life-cycle for both groups, but are clearly larger for high-school graduates and also account for a larger proportion of their overall variance. Analyses of changes in within-group inequality over time, holding life-cycle effects constant, show that high-school and college graduates have been subject to similar trend growths in both persistent and transitory earnings differentials between 1982 and 2005.

Keywords: Permanent inequality; Earnings instability; Life-cycle earnings; Schooling

JEL-codes: C33; D31; J39

26 pages, December 5, 2008

Full text files

FULLTEXT01.pdf  

Download statistics

• Uppsala University, Department of Economics
• Home page for this series

Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Ulrika Öjdeby ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().

RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2008_014This page generated on 2024-09-13 22:17:37.