Abstract

The labor share in U.S. manufacturing declined from 61% in 1967 to 41% in 2012. The labor share of the typical U.S. manufacturing establishment, in contrast, rose by over 3 percentage points during the same period. Using micro-level data, we document five salient facts: (i) since the 1980s, there has been a dramatic reallocation of value added toward the lower end of the labor share distribution; (ii) this aggregate reallocation is not due to entry/exit, to “superstars” growing faster, or to large establishments lowering their labor shares, but is instead due to units whose labor share fell as they grew in size; (iii) low labor share (LL) establishments benefit from high revenue labor productivity, not low wages; (iv) they also enjoy a product price premium relative to their peers; and (v) they have only temporarily lower labor shares that rebound after five to eight years. This transient pattern has become more pronounced over time, and the dynamics of value added and employment are increasingly disconnected. Taken together, we interpret these facts as pointing to a significant role for demand-side forces.

中文翻译：

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劳动份额下降的微观剖析*

摘要

美国制造业的劳动力份额从1967年的61％下降到2012年的41％。相比之下，典型的美国制造业企业的劳动力份额同期增长了3个百分点以上。利用微观数据，我们记录了五个明显的事实：（i）自1980年代以来，价值的显着重新分配向着劳动份额分配的低端；（ii）这种总的重新分配不是由于进/出，“超级巨星”增长更快，还是由于大型机构降低了他们的劳动力份额，而是由于单位的劳动力份额随着规模的增加而下降；（iii）劳动分担率低（LL）企业受益于高收入劳动生产率，而不是低工资；（iv）他们也比同龄人享有产品价格溢价；（v）他们只有暂时较低的劳动力份额，而这种份额会在五到八年后反弹。随着时间的流逝，这种过渡模式变得越来越明显，增值和就业动态之间的联系越来越不紧密。综上所述，我们将这些事实解释为表明需求方力量的重要作用。