Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T01:35:00.990Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Employer Size, Human Capital, and Rural Wages: Implications for Southern Rural Development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2016

David S. Kraybill ,
Michael J. Yoder  and
Kevin T. McNamara
David S. Kraybill
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Georgia
Michael J. Yoder
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Georgia
Kevin T. McNamara
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A recent trend in rural development policy emphasizes small business development in place of industrial recruitment. To analyze some of the likely effects of expanding the proportion of small firms in local economies, an empirical wage rate model incorporating employer size was developed, and parameters were estimated using household data from rural Putnam County, Georgia. The estimates indicated that large employers offered higher wages than small employers and that the wage premium they offered was greater for blacks than for whites. These results support Thomas Till's argument that southern rural counties with relatively large black populations should not abandon efforts to attract large employers. Other factors associated with higher wages included level of education, previous labor force experience, and employment in certain occupations and industries.

Keywords

employer sizehuman capitalwage determination
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , December 1991 , pp. 85 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bachtel, D.C., ed. Georgia County Guide. Cooperative Extension Service, University of Georgia, 1990.Google Scholar
Barron, J.M., Black, D.A., and Loewenstein, M.A.. “Employer Size: The Implications for Search, Training, Capital Investment, Starting Wages, and Wage Growth.” J. Labor Econ., 5(1987): 76–89.Google Scholar
Barron, J.M., The Economics of Discrimination. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1957.Google Scholar
Becker, G.S. Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special Reference to Education. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1975.Google Scholar
Brown, C. and Medoff, J.. “The Employer Size-Wage Effect.”J. Pol. Econ., 97(1989):1027–1059.Google Scholar
Chamberlain, N.W., Cullen, D.E., and Lewin, D.. The Labor Sector. San Francisco: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1980.Google Scholar
Eisinger, P.K. The Rise of the Entrepreneurial State: State and Local Economic Development Policy in the United States. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988.Google Scholar
Fischer, M.M. and Nijkamp, P.. “Labour Market Theories: Perspectives, Problems and Policy Implication.” Regional Labour Markets. Fischer, M.M. and Nijkamp, P., eds. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1987.Google Scholar
Fleisher, B.M. and Knieser, T.J.. Labor Economics: Theory, Evidence and Policy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1980.Google Scholar
Freeman, R.B. and Medoff, J. What Do Unions Do? New York: Basic Books, 1980.Google Scholar
Fuchs, V.R. “Women's Quest for Economic Equality.” J. Econ. Perspectives, 3(1989): 25–41.Google Scholar
Gunter, L. “Wage Determination for Regular Hired Farm Workers: An Empirical Analysis for Georgia.” So. Agr J. Econ., 18(1986): 197–206.Google Scholar
Idson, T.L. and Feaster, D.J.. “A Selectivity Model of Employer-Size Wage Differentials.” J. Labor Econ., 8(1990): 99–122.Google Scholar
Joll, C., McKenna, C., McNabb, R., and Shorey, J.. Developments in Labour Market Analysis. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1983.Google Scholar
MDC, Inc. Shadows in the Sunbelt: Developing the Rural South in an Era of Economic Change. Chapel Hill: MDC, Inc., 1986.Google Scholar
Marshall, R. “The Economics of Discrimination: A Survey.” J. Econ. Lit., 12(1974): 849–872.Google Scholar
Mellow, W. “Employer Size and Wages.” Rev. Econ. Stat, 64(1982): 495–501.Google Scholar
Mincer, J. Schooling, Experience, and Earnings. New York: Columbia University Press, 1974.Google Scholar
Oi, WY. “Heterogeneous Firms and the Organization of Production.” Econ. Inquiry, 21(1983): 147–171.Google Scholar
Scott, L.C., Smith, L.H., and Rungeling, B.. “Labor Force Participation in Southern Rural Labor Markets.” Am. J. Agr. Econ., 59(1977): 266–274.Google Scholar
Smith, L.H., Briggs, V.M. Jr., Rungeling, B., and Smith, J.O. Jr. “Wage and Occupational Differences between Black and White Men: Labor Market Discrimination in the Rural South.” S. Econ. J. 45(1978): 250–257.Google Scholar
Solomon, S. Small Business USA. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1986.Google Scholar
Southern Growth Policies Board. Halfway Home and a Long Way to Go: The Report of the 1986 Commission on the Future of the South. Chapel Hill NC, 1986.Google Scholar
Stigler, G.J. “Information in the Labor Market.” J. Pol. Econ., 70 (Supplement, 1962): 94–105.Google Scholar
Till, T.E. “The Share of Southeastern Black Counties in the Southern Rural Renaissance.” Growth and Change, 17(1986): 44–55.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Provisional Estimates of Households for Counties. Atlanta, 1985.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Commerce. “Current Business Statistics.” Survey of Current Business, 71(1991): S1–S36. Google Scholar