Earnings Differentials of Railroad Managers and Labor

This chapter investigates the separate earnings pattern of managers, union, and non-union employees in the U.S. rail industry during regulatory and deregulatory regimes. Such an empirical investigation is significant, in part, because economic theory does not provide an obvious prediction on post-deregulation earnings patterns in the rail industry. Findings reveal uneven earnings declines for the three groups of rail employees, as the earnings of railroad non-union labor experienced a greater decline in the deregulation period than those for union labor. The decline in earnings for railroad managers was generally smaller than that for union and non-union labor.