Labor Problems

The University of Oklahoma (Fall 2016 - Present)

• Syllabus

• State of the Economy (as of January 2021) (PDF) (PPT)

• An Introduction to Labor Economics (PDF) (PPT)

  • Share of Labor Compensation in GDP (USA)

  • The Above Share for the US, Canada, Japan, Germany, and France

  • The Above Share for a Wide Range of Countries

• On Labor Supply (PDF) (PPT)

  • A quick look at aggregate labor supply data

    • Employment Status, United States (2019)

    • Labor Force Participation Rate in the US

    • Refer to World Bank for Modeled Labor Force Participation Rate in Other Countries

  • Estimates of Labor Supply Elasticity

• On Labor Demand (PDF) (PPT)

  • Union Membership in the US

• On Labor Market Equilibrium (PDF) (PPT)

  • Median Earnings (2006-2016)

  • Identifying Economic Profit using Labor Demand and Supply

• On Immigration (PDF) (PPT)

  • Immigrants, Productivity, and Labor Market (Required Reading)

  • Is the Mediterranean the new Rio Grande? (Optional Reading)

• Old Midterm Exams: Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, and Spring 2020

• On Compensating Wage Differentials (PDF) (PPT)

  • Some Recent Evidence on Gender Earnings Gap

  • More on this topic: one and two.

• On Human Capital (PDF) (PPT)

  • Profile of the US Labor Force by Educational Attainment (Also in PDF)

  • On Differences in College Majors Wage Premia:

    • Heterogeneity in Human Capital Investments

    • A WSJ post

    • OU Career Services Executive Summary (2018-19)

• The Wage Structure (PDF) (PPT)

  • A few important time series from Piketty's book (PDF)

  • On trade and income inequality in the US

    • Two relatively old studies: one and two

    • Two relatively new studies: one and two

  • The story of r, g, and wealth inequality

• On Unemployment (PDF) (PPT)

• Old Final Exams: Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, and Fall 2019

Links:

You may use the US BLS, US Census, US Statistical Abstract, FRED, NBER Data Set, OI Economic Tracker, OECD Data Set, World KLEMS Initiative, or World Inequality Database to access some data on economic and, in particular, labor market condition in the US and other countries. You may also find some useful information at the AEA's list of data resources and the OU's Business and Economics Library.