In the complicated and technical process of present day collective bargaining comparisons of wages and salaries are done by more and more refined methods. Similar comparisons are central both in professional and political debate about income distributions and inequality in standard of living. Studies in the structure of earnings are also important for the analysis of consumption and savings behavior and for educational planning.
In this study two different (but related) approaches are suggested for the analysis of earnings data. The first approach is a combined time series and cross sectional analysis of age-earnings profiles by educational qualification, the second is a more detailed investigation of the earnings structure in a cross section. As an illustration they are applied to salary data from Swedish industry.
A profile for a cohort of employees is obtained as the sum of an initial salary and successive salary increments. These increments are explained by a general salary increase, an increase due to experience and an increase due to age. The applicability of the profile model is illustrated by a comparative analysis of profiles for employees with various educational qualifications, including calculations of life-time salaries.
In the cross sectional analysis salary differences are estimated due to job, branch of industry and cost of living area in addition to age and education. Furthermore, the stability of the salary structure is investigated in a comparison between four cross sections from the period 1957-1968.
In the book there are also included chapters on institutional background, labour composition and mobility and the statistical data used.
