TY - RPRT AU - Marinescu, Ioana E. AU - Qiu, Yue AU - Sojourner, Aaron TI - Wage Inequality and Labor Rights Violations PY - 2021/Feb/ PB - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) CY - Bonn T2 - IZA Discussion Paper IS - 14112 UR - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp14112 AB - Wage inequality does not fully capture differences in job quality. Jobs also differ along other key dimensions, including the prevalence of labor rights violations. We construct novel measures of labor violation rates using data from federal agencies. Within local industries over time, a 10% increase in the average wage is associated with a 0.15% decrease in the number of violations per employee and a 4% decrease in fines per dollar of pay. Reduced labor market concentration and increased union coverage rate are also associated with reductions in labor violations. Overall, labor violations are regressive: they increase inequality in job quality. KW - wage differentials KW - inequality KW - worker power KW - labor rights ER -