Assume that college-educated labor and high school-educated labor are complements in production. That is, the two types of labor work together, so that an increase in the quantity of either type increases the productivity of the other type of labor

Is this consistent with the observed increase in the college wage premium?

Yes. Labor complementarity helps to explain why the wage for college-educated workers continues to rise, even while the supply is rising. The marginal product of college-educated workers does not fall, so long as their skills can be combined with the input of less-educated workers. An important aspect of skill-biased technical change is to allow a given quantity of relatively uneducated workers to support rising productivity among an increasing quantity of highly educated workers. Complementarity helps to explain how the wage for uneducated workers remains relatively stable, rather than declining toward zero as the wage for college-educated workers continues to rise.

Economics

You might also like to view...

Which one of the following statements concerning the Second Bank of the United States is not true?

a. It was created by Congress to stabilize the money supply. b. Its constitutionality was a presidential election issue. c. It lost its charter during Andrew Jackson's presidency. d. Its power was undermined when Andrew Jackson shifted Treasury funds from it to state banks e. It instructed northern banks not to accept bank notes from some southern and western banks.

Economics

In ________ industries, a single firm has some control over the price of its output.

A. imperfectly competitive B. all C. only government-regulated D. perfectly competitive

Economics