This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

  1. Home
  2. Journals
  3. Journal of Economic Perspectives
  4. Spring 2024
  5. Perspectives on the Labor Share

Journal of Economic Perspectives

ISSN 0895-3309 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7965 (Online)

Perspectives on the Labor Share

  • Loukas Karabarbounis
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 38, no. 2, Spring 2024
(pp. 107–36)
Download Full Text PDF
(Complimentary)

Abstract

As of 2022, the share of US income accruing to labor is at its lowest level since the Great Depression. Updating previous studies with more recent observations, I document the continuing decline of the labor share for the United States, other countries, and various industries. I discuss how changes in technology and product, labor, and capital markets affect the trend of the labor share. I also examine its relationship with other macroeconomic trends, such as rising markups, higher concentration of economic activity, and globalization. I conclude by offering some perspectives on the economic and policy implications of the labor share decline.

Citation

Karabarbounis, Loukas. 2024. "Perspectives on the Labor Share." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 38 (2): 107–36. DOI: 10.1257/jep.38.2.107

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • D33 Factor Income Distribution
  • E23 Macroeconomics: Production
  • E25 Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
  • F62 Economic Impacts of Globalization: Macroeconomic Impacts
There are no comments for this article.
Login to Comment