Increasing Earnings Inequality in Faculty Labor Markets

This study examined earnings inequality for college and university faculty, using data from the National Study of Postsecondary Faculty to examine whether earnings for this group increased from the late 1980s to the late 1990s. The study was the first to decompose faculty earnings inequality into the proportion of the earnings inequality that is attributable to differences in earnings across institutions and the proportion of earnings inequality that is attributable to differences within institutions. It attempted to identify sources of the growing earnings inequality within institutions. Data analysis indicated that overall earnings inequality among college and university faculty increased from the late 1980s to late 1990s. This increase was the product of both increases in between-institutions earnings inequality, as well as to increases in within-institution earnings inequality, even conditional upon rank, tenure status, experience, seniority, gender race, citizenship, and field of specialization. Overall, the dispersion of earnings among observationally equivalent faculty has increased. (Contains 14 references.) (SM) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document