Earnings inequality within organizations

Although research has documented that earnings inequality within organizations affects many dimensions of organizational outcomes, we have little knowledge about what makes some organizations more unequal than others in terms of the earnings distribution. In order to study the relationship between organizational characteristics and within-organization earnings inequality, I analyze a nationally representative sample of manufacturing establishments in the National Employer Survey (NES). The analysis focuses on how organization-level characteristics such as workforce composition within the establishment and flexible workplace practices are associated with within-establishment earnings inequality. The results suggest that gender heterogeneity, percentage of newly hired workers within the organization, and flexible workplace practices such as job rotation and self-managed teams are significantly associated with earnings dispersion within manufacturing establishments.